
Class 
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LIFE 






BENJAMIN F. BUTLER 



BY 

T. A. BLAND, M.D, 



BOSTON: 

LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 

NEW YORK: 

CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 

1879. 



E^^^ 



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Copyright, 1879, 
By T. a. bland, 

AU rights reserved. 



TO 

THE FRIENDS 

OF 

LIBERTY, EQUALITY, AND JUSTICE, 

WHEREVER FOUND, 

Cfjis i3ooft is Smccreig CnscribcK, 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 



BIOGRAPHY is the meat and marrow of history, EHmi- 
nate personality from the chronicles of a nation, and 
they would disappear from active society. 

What to us were a history of Greece, without a record of 
the lives of Socrates, of Pericles, and Xenophon ; of Rome, 
without Caesar, Cicero, and Seneca; of England, without 
Shakspeare, Cromwell, and Newton ; or of America, without 
Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, and other immortal spirits 
whose courage and wisdom laid the foundations of this 
grand Repubhc, and whose statesmanship and patriotism 
have preserved it ? 

The virtues are but glittering generalities, beautiful abstrac- 
tions, not active forces, until incarnated in human form. 
Men endowed with intelligence, patriotism, integrity, philan- 
thropy, courage, in large measure, are by that fact ordained 
representatives of grand ideas, accepted leaders of their fel- 
lows ; and when the times are right for a bold forward march 
in the never-ending campaign of progress, ' or a vigorous 
assault upon the ever-existing strongholds of injustice and 
oppression, the masses find their leaders, and follow them to 
victory. 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

Now it is Leonidas, at the pass of Thermopylse, holding 
back the myriad hosts of Persia, through the patriotic cour- 
age of three hundred men, who recognize him as the em- 
bodied hope of Spartan Hberty. Again it is Tell, defying the 
arrogance of Gessler, in the name of the freedom-loving sons 
of Switzerland. Anon it is Cromwell, leading the Puritan 
armies to the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty in the name of 
justice and religion. Then it is Washington, marshalling the 
patriot hosts of America against the hired minions of George 
the Third. These men were the chosen executors of the will 
of God, the instruments by which he delivered his people 
from bondage. 

The foes of liberty, justice, and equality; the Tory element 
in American society ; the men who believe in the aristocracy 
of wealth, and the right of the rich to rule and rob the poor ; 
those who hold that moneyed men and rich corporations 
should control the finances of the country, and that all legis- 
lation upon this important subject ought to be dictated by 
bankers and brokers, — these, taking advantage of the honest 
and unsuspecting people, while they were setthng the ques- 
tion of negro-slavery by the sword, intrenched themselves 
in the strongholds of the Government. They bribed the 
venal and deceived the ignorant public men, to such an ex- 
tent, that Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President 
became their slaves. They have ordained the platforms of 
both the Republican and Democratic parties for the past 
fifteen years, and dictated the policy of each succeeding ad- 
ministration. Under their selfish manipulation, the govern- 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

ment has been practically subverted, and justice, the parent 
of liberty, is no longer a guide to the nation. The produ- 
cing and enterprising classes are taxed to support a privileged 
class of untaxed, non-producing capitalists, as well as to sus- 
tain a large standing army whose chief excuse for existence 
is that it may protect the grasping and arrogant few against 
the possible vengeance of a plundered and oppressed people. 
And, while thus heavily burdened, our property is depre- 
ciated, and our debts correspondingly increased, by the 
deliberate action of Congress, and the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, through the contraction of the currency. The men of 
enterprise are thus bankrupted, the wage-laborers brought to 
the verge of famine, and the farmers are rapidly sinking from 
the comfortable state of independent yeomen, to that of 
tenants at will. 

The groans of the oppressed fill the air ; the prayers of 
the poor ascend to Heaven ; and the demand for justice is 
taking shape in the form of a new party of the people. 
Among the representatives of this new party, Gen. Benjamin 
F. Butler stands out as the great leader, — the man who, of 
all men in this country, combines the qualities of a leader 
such as is demanded by the exigencies of the times ; a large 
brain, untiring energy, unswerving integrity, indomitable will, 
dauntless courage, independence of character : a man of 
intellectual power and executive force ; a man who has con- 
victions, and dares maintain them ; a man who can be held 
to the support of a party only so long as it represents the 
principles which won his allegiance ; a man who prefers 



INTRODUCTION. 



defeat in the right, to success in the wTong ; a man whose 
personal, pohtical, and mihtary record invites criticism, and 
defies slander, and whose personal popularity is such as to 
make his name a tower of strength among the honest masses. 
It is such a man whose brilliant yet unfinished career is 
briefly sketched in this volume. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Ancestry, Birthplace, and Boyhood 7 

CHAPTER II. 
His Career as a Lawyer ' 12 

CHAPTER III. 
Gen. Butler's Political Record before the War . . 18 

CHAPTER IV. 
Gen. Butler's Record as a Soldier 36 

CHAPTER V. 
The Capture of Baltimore 43 

CHAPTER VI. 
Gen. Butler is promoted to Major-General, and put in 

Command of Fortress Monroe 49 

CPIAPTER VII. 
The Capture of New Orleans 67 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Gen. Butler's Career in New Orleans .... 72 

CHAPTER IX. 
Gen. Butler gives Employment to the Poor, thus pre- 
venting both Famine and Pestilence .... 86 



O CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 
Gen. Butler and the Secessionist Women of New Or- 



leans 



PAGE 



96 



CHAPTER XL 
The Execution by Hanging of W. B. Mumford . lor 

CHAPTER Xn. 
Gen. Butler in the Role of a Diplomat. — He proves 

MORE THAN A MaTCH FOR THE FOREIGN CONSULS . . I05 

CHAPTER XIH. 
Gen. Butler makes an Effort to restore Confidence 

AND Prosperity throughout the State . . .no 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Taking the Oath of Allegiance. — The People of New 
Orleans required to define their Position. — More 
Trouble with the Consuls, etc 125 

CHAPTER XV. 
Gen. Butler dealing with the Negro-Question. — Gen. 
Phelps thinks him an old Hunker on the Subject, 
AND resigns. — President Lincoln's Private Orders 
to Gexn. Butler, the Secret of his Policy, etc. . 131 

CHAPTER XVL 
Gen. Butler takes Command of the Army of the James. 

— His Career before Richmond 144 

CHAPTER XVH. 
Gen. Butler as a Financial Reformer . . . .161 

CHAPTER XVHL 

Gen. Butler as a Friend of the Working-Classes . .177 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Gen. Butler's Campaign for Governor in 1878 . . 185 

CHAPTER XX. 
Conclusion 194 



LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANCESTRY, BIRTHPLACE, AND BOYHOOD. 

IF ancestry and birth determine one's national and 
provincial status. Gen. Butler is a full-blooded 
American Yankee. 

His grandfather, Zephania Butler, was a native 
of Connecticut, and commanded a company during 
the War of Independence ; and the sword of this 
old Continental hero now hangs in the library of 
the general at Lowell. 

His paternal grandmother, a daughter of Col. 
Cilley of Revolutionary memory, belonged to the 
distinguished New Hampshire family of that name. 

His mother, Charlotte Elison, was the daughter of 
Richard Elison from the North of Ireland, whose 
ancestors settled in New Hampshire at once after 
the battle of the Boyne, wherein one took part. 
There is no question about the general's coming of 
patriotic fighting-stock. 

Capt. John Butler of Deerfield, N.H., father of 
Gen. Butler, commanded a cavalry company in the 

7 



8 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

war of 1812, and was with Gen. Jackson, being sent 
to him before the battle of New Orleans. After the 
war he took to the sea as a West-India trader, and 
died of yellow-fever on board his vessel in 18 19. 
His fortune was chiefly in his ship and cargo, and 
but little of it ever reached his widow and children. 
Hence upon the intelligence, energy, and virtue of 
the mother depended the fate of the two sons, An- 
drew Jackson and Benjamin Franklin Butler; the 
latter being at the time of his father's death but 
five months old, he having first seen the light at 
Deerfield, N.H., Nov. 5, 18 18. The future hero was 
a small, sickly, quiet, but very studious boy. He 
took to books naturally. His passion for study was 
so great that he devoured and digested all the books 
and pamphlets in the town. The Bible was the 
favorite book with his mother, and Benjamin de- 
lighted her heart by committing large portions of 
it to memory ; but so he did the history of the Rev- 
olution, and many other favorite books, of prose and 
poetry. 

If current legends are to be credited, his studious 
habits did not prevent his engaging in the active 
sports of boyhood. It is also stated on excellent 
authority, that, though small and sickly, he won many 
a victory over larger boys, in the bloody battles of • 
the street and playground. He seldom or never • 
fought on his own account, but as the champion of 
the weak and the timid, and especially the poor and 
despised urchins, so often imposed upon by cowardly 
and snobbish bullies. 



ANCESTRY, BIRTHPLACE, AND BOYHOOD. 9 

The city of Lowell, Mass., was founded in 1821 ; 
and seven years later Mrs. Butler removed to the 
new manufacturing village, and opened a boarding- 
house, which proved so successful that she was able 
to aid her son to the advantages of a liberal education. 

When ready for college, Benjamin set his heart on 
West Point Military Academy ; but his mother, wish- 
ing him to become a Baptist minister, sent him to 
Waterville College, Maine, where he spent four years, 
graduating at the age of twenty, 1838. 

His intellectual grasp and activity were so great 
that he not only mastered easily the regular lessons, 
but the ample college library also, leaving the insti- 
tution an educated young man in the broadest and 
truest sense. He was a leader among the more 
literary students, and through his influence some 
important reforms were inaugurated in the college 
societies. His mind was of the original and inde- 
pendent type, and so comprehensive and clear, that 
he saw many defects and errors in the ideas and 
rules by which the college was governed, as well as 
in the system of theology proclaimed in the chapel. 
He believed that to develop and train the mind, and 
supply it with information upon all useful subjects, 
is to educate it : hence he was not willing to limit 
his opportunities to the curriculum of college studies. 

To him the Calvinistic theology taught by the 
president and professors of the college was too nar- 
row and dogmatic to deserve the name of religion ; 
which, to him, meant practical reverence for God, 
through obedience to his laws. 



lO LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

One of the professors delivered a sermon in the 
chapel, in which he said, " i. None but the elect 
can be saved. 2. Of so-called Christians, probably 
not more than one in a hundred will be saved. 
3. Heathen people will have more consideration of 
the Almighty in future life than men of Christian 
nations who hear, but do not profit by the word of 
God." 

The rules of the institution enforced attendance 
upon chapel-services, and after hearing this sermon 
young Butler petitioned the faculty to relieve him 
from further attendance upon preaching : giving as a 
reason, that, according to the proportion stated, not 
above six persons in the college could possibly be 
saved ; and as there were nine worthy professors, all 
of whom were doctors of divinity, it would be pre- 
sumptuous for him, a poor student, to even hope for 
the remotest chance of salvation : hence in attend- 
ing church he was only making his damnation more 
certain and terrible. Two or three of the faculty 
could appreciate the humor, if not the logic, of the 
petition ; and this saved the young theological re- 
former from expulsion for irreverence. 

On leaving college, young Butler weighed but 
ninety-seven pounds, and gave little promise of the 
vigorous manhood he has since developed. 

The first thing he did was just the right thing. 
He went to sea with an uncle of his, captain of 
a fishing-schooner. The cruise lasted four months, 
during which the young student worked hard, ate 
immense rations of codfish, and came back home 



ANCESTRY, BIRTHPLACE, AND BOYHOOD. II 

robust and healthy. From that time to this he has 
enjoyed excellent health ; and his constitution is un- 
doubtedly one of the most vigorous and enduring to 
be found anyv/here. 

He has maintained that vigor by obedience to the 
laws of health, Jn matters of diet, exercise, &c. He 
is regular and temperate in his habits : hence the 
secret of his ability to do more brain-work than 
almost any other man in this country. 



12 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS CAREER AS A LAWYER. 

ON being thwarted in his wish to obtain a mili- 
tary training, young Butler wished to become 
a physician ; but, before leaving college, this purpose 
was abandoned, and on his return to Lowell, from 
his fishing-voyage, he entered upon the study of the 
law. His poverty compelled him to teach school at 
intervals, to meet personal expenses, until qualified 
to practise in the local courts. He was regarded an 
excellent school-teacher; and, long before he asked 
for admission to the bar, he had won considerable 
reputation as an attorney in minor causes. His 
first clients were factory-girls who felt themselves 
wronged by oppressive corporations. At first these 
poor girls came to young Butler for advice because 
they were not able to pay regular lawyers' fees, and 
were sure of his sympathy and advice, whether they 
could pay him or not. He took their cases, and 
usually won them ; which fact attracted attention, 
and brought him other clients. Sometimes he would 
get two or three dollars for trying a cause : at other 
times his fee would consist entirely of profuse and 
grateful thanks. 



HIS CAREER AS A LAWYER. 1 3 

He worked and studied about eighteen hours a 
day, taking no recreation save such as he found in 
the exercises of the miUtary company to which he 
belonged, and which he joined as a private soon after 
he commenced the study of the law. This company 
was called the City Guard, and was a part of the 
famous Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts militia, 
mobbed in the streets of Baltimore on the memora- 
ble 19th of April, 1 86 1. It is worthy of note, that 
Gen. Butler rose, step by step, from the rank of pri- 
vate to that of brigadier-general, in the militia of his 
State, before the war. 

Mr. Butler was admitted to the bar in 1840, at the 
age of twenty-two, and almost immediately took a 
leading position in the profession, both in point of 
ability and business. 

His well-known and active friendship for the 
laboring classes rendered him unpopular with the 
aristocracy, and especially with the mill-owners. But 
his great ability, and almost marvellous success in 
winning cases, alarmed them ; and a committee, 
headed by the attorney for the principal corporations, 
waited upon him. The old attorney said, " Mr. But- 
ler, you are a very smart young man, and, if you 
pursue the proper course, you are destined to achieve 
both fame and fortune in your profession ; but it is 
rich corporations, and not poor factory-girls, that* 
enable an attorney to have a large bank-account." 
Butler's reply was characteristic of the man. He 
said, " There are always two sides to a lawsuit. If I 
am not for you, I shall be against you ; and you can 
take your choice." 



14 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



About this time the factory-girls, to the number of 
three thousand, struck for a reduction in the hours 
of labor, a day's work being thirteen hours. 

The girls appointed a committee to invite young 
lawyer Butler to address them in the grove. He at 
once accepted. He said, **Your grievances are great, 
your claims just, but you are not likely to bring your 
employers to terms by the rash measure you are 
taking. Your places can be readily filled, and you 
cannot afford to be thrown out of work. A strike is, 
at least, a doubtful and generally a desperate meas- 
ure, and only to be resolved upon as a last resort, 
when oppression is no longer endurable or otherwise 
curable." He advised them to return to work, and try 
remonstrance, and, if that failed, appeal to the legis- 
lature to limit the hours of labor. The girls took 
the advice of their friend and advocate, and Butler 
received the thanks of their employers for his sensi- 
ble speech. This incident served to enthuse him in 
favor of a law limiting a day's work to ten or eleven 
hours ; and it was mainly due to his efforts as a mem- 
ber of the Legislature of the State, that the eleven- 
hour law was passed. 

Gen. Butler possesses the qualities of a lawyer in 
the highest degree, — quick perception, comprehen- 
sive, and tenacious memory, a causative and logical 
mind, a keen sense of humor, force of character, 
and unswerving devotion to his clients. 

He takes no case until he understands it ; and 
then he bends all his powers to it, with faith in, 
and determination to win it. He believes in law ; and, 



HIS CAREER AS A LAWYER. 1$ 

like Socrates, he acts on the principle, that, whether 
the law is good or bad, it should be executed : it is 
the business of the law-maker, not 'he attorney, to 
alter the statutes. He takes every advantage in favor 
of his client, the law gives him. There is a prevalent 
notion that he is a tricky lawyer. This is false, 
utterly false. It doubtless had its origin in the 
minds of small attorneys, who, failing to cope with 
him, grew envious, and avenged themselves by slan- 
dering him. His great success is due to his ability, 
profundity, energy, and pertinacity. He grasps the 
case in its entirety, sees its weak and its strong 
points ; and, as the testimony develops, he analyzes 
it, and uses it to the best possible advantage. A 
strong point in his favor is found in the fact, that 
the courts and the members of the bar recognize 
,his ability and profound knowledge of law to so 
great an extent that they yield to his opinions when 
not sure of their own. They fear him. The follow- 
ing incident, related by an old soldier in a letter to 
the author, illustrates this proposition. He says, — 

" Some years ago I had leased a house in Boston, which 
proved to have a leaky roof ; and the first rain-storm seriously 
damaged my goods, and rendered myself and family uncom- 
fortable. I asked the landlord to repair the roof. He refused. 
I then refused to pay the rent until the repairs should be made. 
His attorney informed me that I would be sued unless I paid 
the rent by twelve o'clock on the following day. I was almost 
in despair ; but my wife said, ' Go and see Gen. Butler.' I did 
so, finding him at his home in Lowell at nine o'clock in the 
evening. I said, ' General, I am an old soldier, of whom you 
never heard. I am in trouble, and I came to you for advice.' 



l6 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

It was a rainy night, and my boots were muddy ; but he invited 
me into his parlor, and, in the most kindly manner, asked me 
to state my case, saying, ' If I can help you, I will.' I showed 
him my lease, and gave him a history of the case. He said, 
' You have a good case. Don't pay a dollar until full damages 
are allowed, and the roof repaired.' I said, ' General, I am not 
able to pay you much, but I want you to be my attorney till 
this matter is settled.' — 'Go home. Rest easy: at twelve 
to-morrow keep your appointment, and tell the attorney for the 
landlord that your attorney advises you to stand a suit.' I 
said, ' How much is your fee ? ' — 'I don't charge you any 
thing.' — 'But suppose the matter comes to trial?' — 'Have 
no fears of that. They will settle on your terms when you tell 
them I have the case.' At the hour appointed, I met the 
attorney and the landlord. They were uncompromising, till I 
said, ' Well, I have made up my mind to let you sue ; and my 
attorney assures me I shall win.' — 'Who is your attorney?' — 
' Gen. Benjajnin F. Butler^ They trembled at the sound of 
his name ; and, after a brief conference with his client, the 
attorney told me they would settle on my terms." 

It would not be difficult to fill this volume with 
anecdotes similar to this. 

Gen. Butler gets large fees, — of course he does, — 
from rich men and corporations, in important cases ; 
but he is thus enabled to advise poor people without 
pay. His services command large fees, because they 
are of great value. In speaking of this subject, in 
defence of Gen. Butler against his foes during the 
late campaign, Wendell Phillips said, " Men say he 
took a large fee in the case of the Farragut award. 
If those interested in that award had been offered 
Dawes's services for five thousand dollars, or But- 
ler's at a hundred thousand, they would have eagerly 
clutched at Butler's." 



HIS CAREER AS A LAWYER. ^ 1 7 

He adds, " There is no man in public life who does 
as much gratuitous work as Gen. Butler. It is rare 
indeed that a poor man who has a grievous wrong to 
be righted leaves his office without a gift of Butler's 
services." 

Gen. Butler has long been recognized as the ablest 
lawyer at the bar of his own State, and one of, if 
not the ablest, in America : hence it is but natural 
that he should have grown wealthy by the legitimate 
pursuit of his profession. He is not only a success- 
ful attorney, but a good business-man. He has 
made judicious investments of his surplus earnings, 
chiefly in manufacturing enterprises. He owns no 
bond, he lends no money on interest ; he is not a 
monopolist, but a man of enterprise, who invests his 
money where it benefits others as well as himself. 
He is liberal in his habits, as well as benevolent, but 
not extravagant ; he is neither reckless nor niggardly, 
but generous, prudent, industrious, and temperate. 
He is exceptionally free from the secret, as well as 
open vices, of public men. He has the brain of a 
Franklin, the firmness of a Jackson, the intellectual 
force of a Bacon, the integrity of an Aristides, and 
the ripe scholarship of a Gushing. 



1 8 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER III. 

GEN. butler's political RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 

GEN. BUTLER is a democrat by nature and edu- 
cation. His whole being rebels against, repu- 
diates, and despises arbitrary despotism and aristo- 
cratic assumption. He believes in universal suffrage, 
equal rights, and just laws. He indorses unreserved- 
ly the sentiments of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, and he stands by the provisions of the Consti- 
tution. He made himself, when a boy, familiar with 
the history of the world. He traced the conflict of 
political ideas, from the time governments began to 
be formed, to the present age. He noted the basis 
of this conflict, and the slow but steady progress 
from absolute tyranny through limited monarchy to 
republicanism. He discovered that the law of evolu- 
tions applies to politics as well as to natural science. 
He is, therefore, a reformer, but not a revolution- 
ist. He believes in law, not license ; order, not 
anarchy. He thinks Jefferson a better guide than 
Hamilton in matters pertaining to the interpretation 
of the Declaration of Independence, and the ques- 
tions involved in and settled by the Revolution. 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. I9 

History teaches him that the doctrines of the old 
Federalists formed the basis of the Roman republic, 
which proved a failure, leaving the last state of that 
country worse than the first ; while the doctrines of 
Jefferson and his compatriots are substantially those 
upon which the Swiss republic is based ; and this 
has stood unshaken amid surrounding despotisms 
for five hundred years, and still stands, a proud vindi- 
cation of the principles of freedom and justice as 
applied to government. 

The general's father was a political as well as mili- 
tary follower of Gen. Jackson ; but he died in his 
son's infancy. Massachusetts was a Whig State, 
and Lowell overwhelmingly a Whig town : hence it 
is not logical, indeed, would be very absurd, to con- 
clude that Gen. Butler allied himself to the Demo- 
cratic party with a view to popularity or office, or 
any other personal advantage. 

He has been called a demagogue ; but only by 
those who do not know the meaning of the epithet, 
or, knowing it, wilfully and maliciously pervert it. 
His entire political career is a defence of his charac- 
ter against so vile a charge. He is in excellent 
company, however. No fact of history is more clear 
than this, that every great man who has practically 
believed in the doctrine of equal rights, and shown 
his faith in this doctrine by defending the rights of 
the poor against the oppressions of the rich, has 
been denounced as a demagogue ; notably, in modern 
times, by three classes, — partisan priests, partisan 
editors, and partisan politicians : in other words, by 



20 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

clerical, editorial, and political demagogues. It is a 
common remark, that Gen. Butler is the best abused 
man in America ; but those who have made them- 
selves familiar with the history of partisan politics 
know that Thomas Jefferson was equally, if not more 
violently, abused. The opposition clergy only de- 
nounce Butler as a demagogue, and advise the people 
not to vote for him. They said Jefferson ought to 
be hung to the nearest tree ; and in 1804, as he was 
peacefully travelling in his own carriage across the 
State of New Jersey, the preachers of Trenton, by 
violent denunciations, so wrought upon the passions 
of the people that his carriage was mobbed, and he 
narrowly escaped with his life. 

Gen. Butler has been on the wrong side of some 
questions; but he was honestly so, and just so soon 
as convinced of his error he changed his position, 
and acknowledged his error. He was wrong on the 
slavery question before the war. The reason for this 
error was, that he never regarded it as an abstract, 
but simply as a constitutional, question. 

The Constitution recognized the institution of 
slavery ; and he maintained, that, as the Constitution 
is the supreme law of the land, its provisions must 
be maintained, and all rights guaranteed by it pro- 
tected. The Constitution of the United States is 
the national charter ; and it were treason for any 
individual or state to nullify or violate its plain pro- 
visions. In this doctrine he was sustained by the 
great statesmen of both the great parties, as well as 
by the opinions of the fathers who framed the gov- 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 21 

ernment, and ordained the Constitution. Gen. But- 
ler's doctrine has been, and is : If constitutions or 
laws are wrong, change them ; but, while they exist, 
maintain them, and obey them. He believed that it 
was an outrage to require factory-girls and other 
operatives to work thirteen hours a day ; yet he 
advised them against strikes, saying, ''Change the 
law." 

He became a candidate for the Legislature on that 
issue, and was triumphantly elected. A few days 
before the election, a committee of workingmen 
called at his office, to say that a notice had been 
posted in all the mills, that all who voted the Butler 
ticket would be discharged. Here was violation of 
law and of right threatened by his opponents. Op- 
pression was to be maintained by bull-dozing, though 
this word had not been invented then. He said, 
''Announce me for a speech to-morrow night." The 
audience was immense, expectation on tiptoe. He 
began by saying, — 

" I am no revolutionist. Revolution is war, the destruction 
of property, the shedding of blood. The accumulations of my 
lifetime are invested in this city ; and its value, its continued 
existence, and the value of all property, and the peace and 
safety of the whole community, depend upon the peaceful 
labors of the men before me. I do not counsel revolution or 
violent measures ; for I do not, I can 7tot, believe that the notice 
posted in the mills was authorized. Some ignorant underling 
lias done this with the hope of propitiating the favor of distant 
masters; misjudging them, misjudging you. The owners of 
the mills are surely too wise, too just, or at least too prudent, to 
authorize a measure which absolutely extinguishes government, 



22 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

which invites, justifies, and necessitates anarchy. For tyranny 
less odious than this, men of Massachusetts, our fathers cast 
off their allegiance to the king, and plunged into the bloody 
chaos of revolution ; and the directors must know that the sons 
stand ready to do as their sires have done before them. But if 
it should prove true that this infamous notice ivas authorized, 
if men are to be deprived even of the enjoyment of the primeval 
curse, 'By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread,' 
for exercising the right of an American citizen to vote as tlieir 
conciences dictate, then, woe to Lowell ! The place that 
knows it now shall know it no more forever ! To my own 
house, I, with this hand, will first apply the torch. All I have 
I consecrate to the flames." 

The effect of this speech was magical. The audi- 
ence were so stirred, that for a few moments it 
seemed that nothing could prevent the burning of 
the City at once. But they were in the hands of a 
master in whom they trusted ; and when he closed 
by saying, *' My friends, go home, obey the laws, do 
no act of violence ; and, when election-day comes, 
vote as your judgment shall dictate, without regard 
to personal consequences. Wait till overt acts of 
treason to liberty and law shall come from the other 
side." The notice disappeared at once, and Butler 
was elected. He has served two sessions in the 
House, one in the Senate, and was also a member 
of the State Constitutional Convention ; and his 
record is that of a sound statesman and honest re- 
former. 

Gen. Butler ran for governor of Massacliusetts 
twice before the war, receiving the first time fifty 
thousand votes, but the other time only six thousand. 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 23 

This was in i860; and the reason for his small vote 
was, that he opposed the nomination first, and after- 
wards the election, of Douglas to the presidency. 
The general took such interest in politics, that he 
always attended the national conventions of his 
party; beginning with the convention of 1844, which 
nominated Polk for the presidency. He was some- 
times on the platform committee : hence his hand 
and head had much to do with shaping the national 
policy of the party. He believed that the perpetua- 
tion of the Union, and the protection of the people's 
rights, depended upon the continued dominance of 
the Democratic party. He recognized the fact that 
the Whig party was the legitimate child and suc- 
cessor of the old Federalist party, inheriting the 
aristocratic ideas of Alexander Hamilton and John 
Adams : hence he could not regard it as a safe custo- 
dian of the rights and interests of the toiling masses. 
He saw also that the constitutional guaranties of the 
slave States were not respected by that party, as a 
party; and he held^t sound doctrine, that, so long as 
the slaveholders had rights under the Constitution, 
those rights should be respected. 

James Parton, in his book entitled '' Gen. Butler 
in New Orleans," says, "The basis of Gen. Butler's 
interest in politics is an entire and fond belief in 
the principles upon which this government was 
founded, and an intense desire that the great experi- 
ment should gloriously succeed. Among educated 
Americans there are two kinds of men, democrats 
and snobs. Gen. Butler is a democrat. In the very 



24 Lli^E OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Strength of his attachment to democratic principles 
is to be found the cause of his having ignored the 
rights of the negroes for so long a time. He 
thought any question of their rights was petty in 
comparison with the mighty stake of mankind in the 
union of these States, and the triumph of demo- 
cratic institutions. The only danger to the Union, 
he thought, arose from the agitation of questions 
respecting slavery ; and he and his colleagues strove 
with all their might to avert or defer it." He adds, 
"In his speeches on the slavery question there is 
candor, force, and truth ; and their argument is un- 
answerable if it be granted that slavery can have any 
rights. There is nothing in them of base subser- 
viency, nothing of insincerity, no vote-catching 
vagueness." Gen. Butler was not a friend of slavery, 
but of the Union and the Constitution. He had no 
sympathy with the violent methods adopted by the 
slaveholders to suppress free speech and crush oppo- 
sition. He condemned all such measures as undem- 
ocratic. He denounced the assault of Brooks upon 
Sumner, in the public places of Washington, in lan- 
guage strong and unmistakable ; and he was one of 
the first to call upon the stricken senator, to assure 
him of his sympathy for his sufferings and his indig- 
nation at the dastardly act. 

When the news of the John Brown raid on Har- 
per's Ferry reached Lowell, a public meeting was 
held, and Gen. Butler invited to address it. The fol- 
lowing extract from that speech shows the spirit of the 
man, and indicates clearly his position at that time : — 



1 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 2^ 

" It is well for us to be assembled here. Let us proclaim to 
all men, that the Union, first and fairest of all the good gifts 
of God, must and shall be preserved. That it is a duty we 
recognize, and will fulfil, to grant to every part of this country 
its rights as guaranteed by the Constitution, and due by the 
compact ; that v/e will, and every part of the country shall, 
respect those institutions of any other part of the country with 
which they and we have nothing to do, save to let them alone, 
whether they are palatable to us, or not. . . . Thus doing our 
duty, and claiming our rights, and granting those of others, as 
any man will do who is a just man, must not the Union be 
perpetual? Let no man mistake upon the matter. This Union, 
this Republic, the great experiment of equal rights, this power 
of self-government by the people, this great instrument of civili- 
zation, the banding together of the intellectual and political 
power of those races which are to civihze the world by their 
energy of action, is not to fail, and human progress be set 
back a thousand years, because of the difference of opinion as 
to the supposed rights and interests of a few negroes. This 
Union is not like a family, because its members must never 
separate, and divide the homestead. It is not like a partner- 
ship, because it contains no elements or periods of dissolution. 
It is not like a confederation, because it contains no clause or 
means by which one or more of its members can withdraw. It 
is either organization j)r chaos. It may crumble into atoms : it 
cannot be spht in fragments. A despotism may arise upon its 
ruins, but little snarling republics can never be made from its 
pieces. . . . To us no star in our glorious banner differeth 
from another star in glory ; but all must and shall shine on to- 
gether in one constellation, to bless the world with its benign 
radiance forever." 

Are these the words of a demagogue, or the sen- 
timents of a statesman } the rantings of a fanatic, 
or the calm wisdom of a philosopher.? Gen. Butler 
attended the Charleston Convention in April, i860, 



26 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

with a fixed determination to make no concessions to 
the South beyond those contained in the Cincinnati 
platform of 1856; and as a member of the Committee 
on Resohitions he proposed the following : — 

'■'■Resolved^ That we, the Democracy of the Union, in conven- 
tion assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the Democratic 
resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of 
principles at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, without addition or 
alteration ; believing that Democratic principles are unchange- 
able in their nature when applied to the same subject-matter." 

This resolution was lost by one vote, — sixteen 
States for, and seventeen against it. Gen. Butler 
earnestly desired that the convention should har- 
monize upon a platform and a candidate ; but, beyond 
the Cincinnati platform, he could offer nothing to 
the South. He became disgusted with Douglas, or 
rather with his friends who represented him in the 
convention, because he saw a disposition to offer 
more than the South asked. They were willing to 
concede any thing for the sake of the nomination 0: 
the Little Giant of squatter sovereignty. But the 
representative men of the party, and especially of 
the South, were averse to Judge Douglas ; they dis- 
trusted him, and their distrust increased in proportion 
to the overtures made by the Douglas delegates. 

There were three platforms reported to the con- 
vention ; one from the majority, one from the mi- 
nority, of the committee, and one from Gen. Butler, 
who had refused to indorse the report of either 
faction of the committee, but stood by the Cincinnati 
platform. He made a speech in favor of his report 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 2/ 

and in opposition to the objectionable features of the 
others. He said, — 

" If the Cincinnati platform is so defective, why did you give 
it such enthusiastic support in 1856? I am told that it is capa- 
ble of two interpretations. Wh}^, sir, when Omniscience sends 
us a divine law for our guidance through life, and our hope in 
death, for almost two thousand years men have been engaged 
in giving different interpretations of that law, and they have 
sealed their faith in their own interpretations with their blood. 
They have burned each other at the stake as an evidence of the 
sincerity of their faith." 

Speaking of the majority report, he said, — 

" Our opponents will see in it, what I hope Southern gentle- 
men do not mean, — the re-opening of the African slave-trade ; 
and it will be so construed that no man can get rid of the inter- 
pretation. It will be proclaimed from every stump, flaunted 
from every pulpit, thundered from every platform, in the North, 
until we, your friends, — and in no boasting spirit I say, with- 
out us you are powerless, — the last refuge of the constitutional 
rights of the South, are stricken down powerless forever ; so 
that without modification it would be impossible for me to adopt 
the report." 

He proceeded to review the resolutions presented 
by the Douglas wing of the committee, showing how 
weak and silly they were, — a mere web of sophistry 
to catch gulls. He punctured the carefully worded 
resolutions. 

" Leaving the whole matter of slavery in either States or ter- 
ritories to the Supreme Court, suppose, gentlemen of the North, 
the Supreme Court should decide that slavery exists in Massa- 
chusetts, that it was forced upon us by the Constitution of the 
United States : what would you do about it ? 

"And you, gentlemen of the South, suppose in the course 



28 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

of a few years the Supreme Court should become anti-slavery, 
and make a decision that slavery nowhere exists by natural law 
and that men can hold no property in man : what then ? Are 
you prepared to abide by the decision ? " 

At this point a delegate from Maryland, Mr. John- 
son, interrupted him by saying that it became a man 
representing a State that never gave a Democratic 
majority, to be modest about offering advice to a 
Democratic convention. Gen, Butler is most happy 
at retort, and he w^as ready now : — 

" You may taunt me with the fact that I am speaking for 
poor old Massachusetts, who has not given a Democratic vote 
since the days of Jefferson: she did give a Democratic vote 
then. By that vote the South acquired the rich inheritance of 
Louisiana; and I see here from the Gulf States men whom but 
for that vote 1 never would have had the pleasure of meeting, 
except as subjects of Napoleon III. 

" Then do not taunt me with speaking for a State that cannot 
give an electoral vote. I feel bad enough about it. ^J do not 
like to be taunted with it. I think it especially unkind of my 
friend from Maryland, because he violated the well-known 
maxim, that the pot should never call the kettle black." 

Mr. Johnson replied, "While Maryland obeys the 
laws of the Union, as she has ever done, she con- 
siders herself equal to all other States ; but, when 
she refuses to acknowledge the force of the Consti- 
tution, she will then be more modest m the expres- 
sion of her opinions." 

"Comparisons are odious," responded Gen. Butler; 
" but I say that any man in Massachusetts can walk 
up to the polls, and vote as he pleases, without dan- 
ger of having his head broken by a club." 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 29 

Gen. Butler's report was adopted by a large major- 
ity of the convention, 230 to 40. The next thing 
was to nominate a candidate to stand upon it. The 
result is a matter of history. 

Gen. Butler, in his report to his constituents on his 
return from the convention, says, — 

" With the facts before me, and impressing upon me the 
conviction that the nomination of Judge Douglas could not. be 
made with any hope of safety to the Democratic party, what 
was I to do ? Yielding to your preferences, I voted seven 
times for Judge Douglas, although my judgment told me that 
my votes were worse than useless, as they gave him an appear- 
ance of strength in the convention which I felt he had not in 
the party. 

" I then looked about me, with a view to throwing my vote 
where, at least, it would not mislead any one. I saw a states- 
man of national fame, who had led his regiment to victory at 
Buena Vista, a Democrat with whom I disagreed in some 
things, but with whom I could act in most, -r loving his country 
first, his section next, but just to all, so that, through his 
endeavors in the Senate of the United States, Massachusetts 
obtained from the General Government several hundred thou- 
sand dollars, her just dues deferred for forty years, — a feat 
which none of her own sons had ever been able to accomplish. 
Besides, his friends were not pressing his name before the con- 
vention, so that he was not a party to the personal strife then 
going on. I thought such a man worthy of the poor compli- 
ment of a vote from Massachusetts : therefore I threw my vote 
for Jefferson Davis of Mississippi. I make no apology for that 
vote. I believe it was guided by an intelligent view of the 
situation." 

After fifty-seven ballotings, without a nomination, 
the convention adjourned, to meet in Baltimore on 
the 1 8th of June. 



30 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

There Judge Douglas's friends maintained their 
fixed determination to force him upon the party, and 
the convention again split. Gen. Butler, being unal- 
terably opposed to the nomination of Douglas, went 
with the delegates who agreed with. him in this oppo- 
sition. 

The Douglas men nominated their favorite, with 
Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia, an avowed disunion- 
ist, for the second office. The other party nom- 
inated Breckenridge of Kentucky for the presidency, 
and Lane of Oregon for vice-president. 

In justice to Gen. Butler, let it be stated that his 
candidate stood upon a platform which left the peo- 
ple of each territory free to form a constitution, and 
come into the Union, as a slave State or as a free 
State. 

The platform of Douglas said, ''The Supreme 
Court shall decide the matter, both for the States 
and Territories ; and its decisions shall be final." 

The Republican platform, upon which Mr. Lincoln 
was placed, said, "There is no authority anywhere 
which can sustain slavery in the territories of this 
country. Neither Congress nor the Supreme Court 
can do it." If Gen. Butler was wrong, it was cer- 
tainly not in his decision between the two Demo- 
cratic platforms. He was wiser than a majority of 
his party at that time. He demonstrated his hon- 
esty by opposing the sophistical demagoguery of the 
Douglas faction. I do not hesitate to say that from 
a Democratic standpoint he acted right ; and it is a 
source of satisfaction to the writer, that, as a Repub- 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 3 1 

lican, he said so publicly during that ever memorable 
campaign. 

In a speech in Lowell, in defence of his position, 
Gen. Butler said, — 

" We who support Mr. Breckenridge are called disunionists. 
By whom is this charge made ? By Pierre Soule of Louisiana, 
an avowed disunionist ; by John Forsythe ; and the Atlanta 
Confederacy, which maintains the duty of the South to leave 
the Union if Lincoln is elected. And yet these men are the 
foremost in promoting the election of Douglas. By Goulding 
of Georgia, who is making the same speech in the campaign for 
Douglas that he made in the Baltimore convention, where he 
argued that non-intervention meant that Congress had no 
power to prevent the exportation of negroes from Africa, and 
that popular sovereignty meant the re-establishment of the 
slave-trade. When I left that convention, I declared that I 
would no longer sit where the African slave-trade, made piracy 
and felony by the laws of my country, was openly advocated 
and applauded. Yet such at the South are the supporters of 
Douglas." 

Gen. Butler knew that quite a considerable num- 
ber of Southern lea,ders were ready to favor secession 
in the event of the election of Lincoln ; but he did 
not believe that a majority of them would sustain so 
rash and treasonable a measure. An agreement had 
been made at Baltimore, that if Lincoln should be 
chosen, — which was then thought probable, — the 
Democratic leaders should meet in Washington on 
the 1st of December, i860, to consult together on the 
situation. Accordingly Gen. Butler repaired to the 
capital on the opening of Congress, where he met 
quite a large number of his party friends. South 



32 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Carolina had already seceded, and sent three men, 
commissioned to act for the State in negotiating 
terms of separation. To the headquarters of this 
trio of traitors, the general repaired. He found a 
large number of representative Southerners there, 
who, to his surprise, talked as though they regarded 
a dissolution of the Union a settled fact. Among 
the few who opposed this view of the situation, Mr. 
Breckenridge stood out prominent. The brilliant ex- 
candidate joined Gen. Butler in an earnest effort to 
stay the tide of treason, and save the old party, the 
South, and the Union. They met with very little 
encouragement, little sympathy even. 

''What does this mean ? " asked Butler of a promi- 
nent Southern Democrat, soon after his arrival. 

" It means simply what it appears to mean. The 
Union is dead. The experiment is finished. The 
attempt of two communities having no interest in 
common, to live together, to make believe they are 
one nation, has ceased forever. We shall establish 
a sound, homogeneous government, with no discord- 
ant elements. We shall have room for our friends. 
Come with us." 

" Have you counted the cost ? Do you really think 
you can break up this Union ? Do j/ou think so, 
yourself ? " 

*'Ido." 

" You are, then, prepared for civil war ? You 
mean to bring this matter to the issue of arms .? " 

*' Oh, the North won't fight ! " 

"The North w?// fight." 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 33 

"The North can't fight. We have friends enough 
at the North to prevent it." 

" You have friends at the North as long as you 
remain true to the Constitution and the Union. But, 
the moment it is seen that you mean to break up the 
nation, that moment the North is a unit against you. 
I can answer for Massachusetts. She is good for 
ten thousand men to march at once against armed 
Secession." 

" Massachusetts is not such a fool. If your State 
should attempt to send an army to preserve the 
Union, she would have to fight twice as large an 
army at home, who will oppose such a policy." 

" No, sir : when we come from Massachusetts to 
fight for the Union, we shall not leave a single traitor 
behind, unless we leave him hanging on a tree. I 
know something of the North, and a good deal about 
New England. We are pretty quiet there now, be- 
cause we don't believe you mean to carry out your 
threats. But, as sure as you attempt to break up this 
Union, the North will resist the attempt, to the last 
man and the last dollar ; and you are as certain to 
fail as there is a God in heaven. You may ruin the 
South, and blot out slavery ; but you can't destroy 
the Union. God and nature, and the blood of your 
fathers and mine, have made it one ; and one it must 
remain forever." 

" Would you fight against us ? " 

" I would ; and, by the grace of God, / wiliy 

Gen. Butler called on the President, Buchanan, 
and Attorney-General Black, to present his plan for 



34 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

crushing treason while yet in the bud. He said, 
^' Secession is treason ; and the presenting of an 
ordinance of secession is an overt act of treason. 
These so-called commissioners from South Carolina 
are coming to the White House to present the 
ordinance to the President. Admit them. Let them 
present the ordinance. Have a United-States mar- 
shal present, with orders to arrest them as prisoners 
of state, charged with treason. Try them before 
the Supreme Court, as we did Aaron Burr. I will 
stay here, and help the district attorney, without fee 
or reward. If they are convicted, hang them, if that 
is the sentence. If they are acquitted, you will have 
done something toward leaving a clear path for the 
incoming administration. Time will have been 
gained ; for both sides will pause, and watch the 
dignified proceedings. Passions will cool, the points 
at issue will become clear to all parties ; and, in my 
opinion, the threatened storm will pass by." 

The Attorney-General favored Gen. Butler's plan, 
but the President refused to sanction it. Thus, 
through the weakness and timidity of one man, who 
held supreme power, was the scheme of the ablest 
and most daring of American statesmen rejected, — a 
scheme which few can doubt was wisely planned, 
and would have been successful. 

Gen. Butler had many long and earnest interviews 
with the Southern leaders, during which he used 
every art of argument and persuasion of which he 
was master, with the hope of changing their purpose ; 
but all was vain. They adhered to their purpose, 



HIS POLITICAL RECORD BEFORE THE WAR. 35 

and urged him to join them, offering every induce- 
ment in the form of office, honors, money. But he 
checked them by saying, *' I pardon the insult you 
offer me, that we may to-night part as friends ; but, 
unless you repent of your rash purpose, we meet no 
more, except, perchance, on the battle-field, as mortal 
foes." 

He at once called on his old friend Senator Wil- 
son of Massachusetts, to lay before him all the facts 
he had gathered, and ask him to join him in a letter 
to the governor of their State, suggesting the impor- 
tance of putting the militia of the Commonwealth on 
a war footing at once, with a view to possible emer- 
gency. On his return to Boston he had a personal 
, interview with Gov. Andrew. The result was the 

j adoption of his advice. The governor could hardly 

I believe the danger so imminent as Gen. Butler rep- 

j resented it ; but the stirring events of the next few 

I months fully sustained the wisdom of his opinion 

\ and counsel. 

I 



36 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER IV. 

GEN. butler's record AS A SOLDIER. 

THE booming of rebel cannon fired on Fort 
Sumter awoke not only the echoes of Charles- 
ton Harbor, but the slumbering patriotism of a 
nation of freemen. 

On the 15th. of April, 1861, Gen. Butler was en- 
gaged upon a case in a Boston court. The hand on 
the dial of time pointed to a quarter to five, p.m., when 
Col. Jones of the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts 
militia entered, and handed the general an order 
from the governor of the State, to muster his com- 
mand forthwith on Boston Common. To read and 
indorse this order, was the work of a moment ; and 
the brave colonel started for Lowell to call his men 
together. The general handed his briefs to an asso- 
ciate attorney, and followed on the 5.30 train. 

At eleven o'clock on the morning of the i6th, the 
regiment, the colonel, and the general were on Bos- 
ton Common awaiting orders, though it had cost a 
whole night of active effort to collect the various 
companies from their different and widely separated 
homes. The first requisition of the Secretary of War 



HIS RECORD AS A SOLDIER. 37 

had been for two regiments to defend Washington. 
On this day he telegraphed for a brigade of four full 
regiments, and a brigadier-general to command it. 
Gen. Pierce was the ranking brigadier in the State, 
and a political as well as personal friend of the gov- 
ernor ; yet the command was tendered to Gen. Butler, 
who at once accepted it. It was decided to send the 
Sixth forward at once ; and it left at four that after- 
noon, after hearing stirring words of patriotic cheer 
from Gov. Andrew and Gen. Butler. At midnight 
the general went to his' home, awoke his family 
from their peaceful slumbers, only to embrace his 
wife and children, and bid them good-by. An early 
train from Lowell bore him to Boston in company 
with his brother Andrew J., then on a visit to his 
early home from California, and who accepted a posi- 
tion on the staff of the general. 

Two regiments were sent by steamer to Fortress 
Monroe ; but the Eighth, with Gen. Butler in immedi- 
ate command, took the train for Washington via New 
York and Philadelphia. In New York they were 
entertained at the Astor and Metropolitan hotels ; 
and on arriving at Philadelphia they were quartered 
at the Girard, and generously fed by the citizens of 
the city. Here the news of the attack on the Sixth 
Regiment by the Baltimore mob reached the general. 
He also learned that the bridges were on fire : hence 
it would be impossible to reach Washington via Bal- 
timore. The general consulted the map, and re- 
solved to go to Havre de Grace by rail, thence to 
Annapolis by steamer, and from there to Washington 



38 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

by railroad. Rumor said, '' Maryland is full of armed 
rebels, and hard fighting may be expected ;" but Gen. 
Butler had started for Washington under orders, and 
he meant to get there at the earliest possible moment. 
His plans were determined upon ; and then he called 
his officers together, and laid them before them, say- 
ing, '' I take the responsibility upon myself, and now 
invite you to share the dangers." Not a man faltered. 
Sketching his plans to be forwarded to Gov. Andrew 
after his departure, he started with his regiment for 
Havre de Grace. Col. Lefferts of the Seventh New 
York was there with his regiment, and was asked by 
the general to go with him ; but, regarding the peril 
too great, he declined. 

Arriving at Havre de Grace, the general took pos- 
session of the steam ferry-boat, and, embarking with 
his command, ordered the captain to steer for Annap- 
olis by the shortest route. The general had doubts 
as to the loyalty of the captain and crew of the 
steamer "Maryland:" hence he kept watch person- 
ally while his men slept. 

They hove in sight of the capital of Maryland at 
midnight, and were surprised to find the city illumi- 
nated. Ordering the anchor overboard, he sent his 
brother in a small boat, to learn why the people were 
so wide awake. Col. Butler landed at the Naval 
Academy, and had an interview with Capt Blake, 
commandant of the post. Scarcely had Col. Butler 
reached the shore, when a boat was seen approaching 
the steamer, and a voice called out, " What steamer 
is this.?" 



HIS RECORD AS A SOLDIER. 2)9 

Receiving no reply, the boat was making for the 
shore when Gen. Butler called out, ''Come on board, 
or I will fire into you." 

This boat proved to have been sent by Capt. Blake, 
to ascertain the name and object of the steamer. 
Lieut. Matthews and Gen. Butler soon came to an 
understanding, and were mutually delighted, being 
both true patriots. Capt. Blake, though loyal, ad- 
vised the general not to land ; and Gov. Hicks for- 
bade his doing so, in a written order. 

He disregarded both the captain's advice and the 
governor's order. Before landing, however, he towed 
the old school-ship *' Constitution," which lay at the 
wharf aground, in imminent danger of capture by 
the rebels, out to sea, thus saving her to the Govern- 
ment. Gen. Butler was informed that it would be 
impossible to reach Washington, as the railroad had 
been destroyed, and the woods were full of armed 
rebels ; and, still worse, that not a citizen of Annapo- 
lis would give or sell him any thing for him or his 
soldiers to eat. 

The general replied to this last terrible news, that 
he had hoped for more hospitable treatment, but that 
his soldiers were not apt to suffer for food : if ordi- 
nary means did not suffice to procure it, there were 
measures known to soldiers that would not fail. The 
hint was sufficient. The soldiers found no difficulty 
in purchasing supplies. In the mean time Col. Lef- 
ferts with his Seventh New York arrived ; he having 
been compelled to adopt Gen. Butler's route to Wash- 
ington, after he had left Philadelphia. The two regi- 



40 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

ments greeted each other with hearty cheers, and 
fraternized at once ; but, on hearing the cock-and-buU 
stories with which Gov. Hicks and the citizens of 
Annapolis had tried in vain to frighten Gen. Butler, 
Col. Lefferts declined the second time to join the gen- 
eral in his march to the capital, resolving to remain 
in the fort until re-enforcements should arrive. Par- 
ton says, "Vain were arguments; vain remonstrance ; 
vain the biting taunt. Col. Lefferts still refused to 
go." Gen. Butler said, "Then we go alone." He 
seized the railroad depot and storehouse, forcing the 
gates. Finding an old locomotive, he put it in 
charge of Charles Honians, a private of Company 
E, a locomotive-builder by trade, who soon had it in 
working trim. The railroad-track had been torn up ; 
but there were plenty of men in his regiment who 
knew how to build railroads, and these were set to 
work. At dawn of the next day all was in readiness 
for a start to Washington ; and Col. Lefferts having 
got over his scare, and his men and officers being 
anxious to share the dangers and glory of the bold 
march, relented, and, to Gen. Butler's delight, an- 
nounced his purpose to go with him. 

The general took every precaution against success- 
ful attack, by mounting loaded howitzers on platform 
cars, and ordering his men to keep their arms in 
hand ready for momentary use in case of attack. 
Thus this indomitable soldier forwarded his com- 
mand through a hostile country to the capital of the 
nation, laying track and building bridges as they 
went. His fearless courage overawed his foes, and 



HIS RECORD AS A SOLDIER. 4I 

no attack was made upon his little army of Spartan 
Yankees. 

After getting the two regiments well on their way, 
and assuring himself of their entire safety, he re- 
turned to Annapolis, under orders from Gen. Scott, 
who created the Department of Annapolis, the com- 
mand of which he assigned to Brig.-Gen. Benjamin F. 
Butler. His instructions gave him almost absolute 
power ; and this power he never abused, but used it 
wisely and well. Large bodies of troops landed here, 
and were forwarded by Gen. Butler on to Washing- 
ton. He established a system of strict surveillance 
over travel between the North and South, arresting 
all spies and suspicious characters, giving passports 
only to those who could show a clear record. He 
kept a strict watch on the governor and legislature 
of Maryland ; and, having got possession of the seal 
of the State, he prevented the passage, or rather the 
legalizing, of any act of treason. 

His great services were highly appreciated by 
President Lincoln, as well as by Gen. Scott and the 
Secretary of War ; and the governor and people of 
Massachusetts felt justly proud of their distinguished 
citizen-general. 

Gen. Butler was always a Democrat with anti- 
slavery proclivities ; but he believed in carrying out 
that, and all other reforms, within the Democratic 
party. For he looked to disruption of the Union 
when it should be attempted to be done by legal en- 
actment ; because he held, as a lawyer, that the Con- 
stitution gave the right to that species of property to 



42 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

the South. He was very active in the election of Mr. 
Sumner, in forming a coahtion between the Demo- 
cratic party and the Free-soil party in Massachusetts, 
by the united votes of which Charles Sumner was 
elected to the United States Senate. And, foresee 
ing what actually happened, the worst that could be 
said of him in that regard is, that he, like Lincoln, 
preferred the union of the States and the integrity o) 
the Government, with slavery, rather than the disrup- 
tion of the country, and the breaking of the Republic 
into fragments, and that a portion of it should not 
have slavery. 

When the South, by the Rebellion, broke all con- 
stitutional obligations, he held that they gave up all 
constitutional rights, and that he was set free in that 
regard from all constitutional restrictions ; and, from 
that hour, gave to his anti-slavery predilections free 
scope, looking upon the necessary and actual result 
of the war, which he had done his best to stave off, 
to be the entire abolition of that institution. 



THE CAPTURE OF BALTIMORE. 43 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CAPTURE OF BALTIMORE. 

THE first regiment to march to the defence of 
the Union, under the call of President Lincoln, 
was the Sixth Massachusetts, the regiment in which 
Gen. Butler had enlisted as a private at the age of 
twenty-two ; the regiment in which he had served 
as a private soldier, corporal, sergeant, second lieu- 
tenant, first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant- 
colonel, and colonel, and which formed a part of his 
brigade at the beginning of the war. This regiment 
was fired upon by a mob of rebel citizens while qui- 
etly marching through the streets of Baltimore, on 
the 19th of April, 1861. This regiment furnished 
the first victims in^molated upon the altar of free- 
dom at the opening of the new dispensation, — the 
first blood that crimsoned anew the glorious flag, 
twice baptized in the rich life-currents that flowed 
from the loyal hearts of our patriot fathers. Balti- 
more was still dominated by that murderous mob of 
traitors, though the majority of her citizens were 
loyal and true. This was enough to fill the heart 
of Gen. Bugler with a burning desire to go to Balti- 



44 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

more. But this was not all : Baltimore was the gate- 
way between the North and the South ; and the key 
was in the hands of the rebels, who were thus able, 
in large measure, to prevent communication between 
the capital and the loyal part of the nation. 

Northern journals and the Northern people were 
demanding of the War Office the subjugation of 
Baltimore, and re-opening of the gateway to Wash- 
ington. 

Gen. Scott at length saw the necessity of it, and 
formulated a plan, which he presented to Gens. 
Butler, Patterson, and others. This plan involved 
the necessity of an army of twelve thousand men, 
in four grand divisions, to march simultaneously to 
the attack of Baltimore, and another army of ten 
thousand to guard Washington, and act as a reserve. 

Gen. Butler had a plan which he presented, but 
which the once grand but now superannuated hero of 
Lundy's Lane rejected promptly; which rejection the 
War Department subsequently pronounced the great- 
est mistake of the ever memorable campaign of 1861. 

This plan comprehended as its chief feature the 
occupation and fortification of Manassas Junction, 
and the cutting-off of all railway connection between 
the South and Washington. This would have saved 
us the disaster and disgrace of the battle of Bull 
Run. 

To take possession of and occupy Baltimore was 
another important part of his programme. To this 
Gen. Scott listened with some patience ; but he did 
not believe it could be effected without a large army, 



THE CAPTURE OF BALTIMORE. 45 

and in his opinion it would require considerable 
time. 

Gen. Butler succeeded in obtaining permission to 
change his base of operations from Annapolis to the 
Relay House, situated nine miles west of Baltimore ; 
and being informed, that, as a department com- 
mander, he was wholly unrestricted save in regard to 
matters covered by positive orders from Washington, 
he resolved upon capturing Baltimore upon his own 
hook, and thus surprise both the rebels and his chief. 
Little thought he that Gen. Scott would be as indig- 
nant at such a bold coup d'etat as the worst Balti- 
more plug-ugly could be. 

On the 6th of May, Gen. Butler reached the Relay 
House with the Sixth Massachusetts, Eighth New 
York, and Cook's battery. He cultivated and en- 
couraged friendly relations with the citizens of the 
village and vicinity ; but he arrested every man who 
gave utterance to rebel sentiments in his camp. A 
Baltimore man spoke approvingly of the action of 
the mob, which attacked the Sixth Massachusetts, in 
the presence of some of the soldiers, who at once 
arrested him ; and by order of the general he was 
sent to Annapolis a prisoner. 

Baltimore was in Gen. Butler's department, of 
which fact he reminded Gen. Scott by special de- 
spatch on the 13th of May. The reply assured him 
that Gen. Scott was glad Baltimore was in his 
department, and desired to invite his special atten- 
tion to the fact, that, according to information 
deemed reliable, there was a large amount of powder 



46 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Stored in a church in that city, which he feared might 
fall into active rebel hands, and be used against the 
Government. The same day, in the afternoon, Gen. 
Butler left Relay on two trains, going toward Har- 
per's Ferry. The smaller train, with some fifty men, 
was bound for Frederick City to capture Ross Wi- 
nans, the millionnaire, traitor, and inventor of the 
Winans steam-gun. The other, with its nine hun- 
dred men, two field-pieces, Gen. Butler and his staff, 
with their horses, was really bound for Baltimore ; 
but, as there were probably spies constantly watch- 
ing his movements, the general adopted that ruse to 
throw them off the right scent. After running a few 
miles, the engine of the longer train was reversed 
and it backed down to Baltimore, passing the Relay 
House without stopping, arriving in the city about 
half-past seven, in the midst of a furious storm. 
The general describes this storm as the m.ost terrific 
he ever witnessed. This had served to drive the 
people indoors, and he led his troops from the Cam- 
den-street depot to Federal Hill without attracting 
scarcely any attention. He had given orders for a 
quiet march without music or conversation ; but, if 
fired upon, the house from whence the shot came was 
to be demolished, and the inmates arrested. No 
such enlivening incident occurred. The little army 
reached the summit of Federal Hill in safety, and, 
planting their field-pieces, were in possession of 
the city without loss of a charge of powder. The 
soldiers pitched their tents, the quartermaster 
brought a lot of wood from the nearest yard ; and 



THE CAPTURE OF BALTIMORE. 47 

soon all fatigue was forgotten in a royal supper of 
fat pork, hard-tack, and hot coffee. The reveille on 
Federal Hill gave the city an early awakening and 
a wonderful surprise. They could scarcely believe 
that those blue-coated forms on the hill were real 
live Yankees. They were half inclined to the opin- 
ion that they were apparitions, or phantoms of their 
disordered imaginations. But at nine, a.m., a late 
edition of "The Clipper" gave them Gen. Butler's 
proclamation. It was dated, '* Department of Anna- 
polis, Federal Hill, Baltimore, May 14, 1861." It 
gave the citizens to clearly understand that he had 
taken possession of the city for the purpose of main- 
taining order, and enforcing obedience to law ; that no 
loyal, peaceably-disposed person would be disturbed ; 
that private property would be respected, &c. 

He invited the co-operation of the civil authorities 
of the city in maintaining order, and in every way 
assured them that he regarded the city as loyal to 
the government of the United States. No resistance 
was attempted, no disturbance, worthy of mention 
occurred. But before the close of the memorable 
14th of May, something occurred to disturb Gen. 
Butler. It was the following telegram from Wash- 
ington : — 

" Sir, — Your hazardous occupation of Baltimore was made 
without my knowledge, and, of course, without my approbation. 
It is a godsend that it was without conflict of arms." 

This furious telegram bore the name of the three- 
hundred-pound thunderer, Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott. 



48 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Gen. Butler had overworked, and was really ill ; 
and this was a heavy dose of bad medicine. He 
had accomplished in a few days, with less than one 
thousand soldiers, and without the loss of a man, 
what Gen. Scott proposed to do in three months, 
with twelve thousand men. True, he had incurred 
some risk ; but, as Parton puts it, " Being only a 
volunteer general, and not a West Point graduate, 
he did not understand how war was to be carried on 
without incurring some risk of a conflict with the 
enemy now and then." 

Gen. Scott was furious at the audacity of Gen. 
Butler, and nothing would appease his wrath but his 
immediate recall. So Butler was ordered to report 
at Washington, to receive a violent reproof from 
Gen. Scott, and a profusion of high compliments 
and grateful thanks from Secretary Cameron and 
President Lincoln. 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 49 



CHAPTER VI. 

GEN. BUTLER IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL, AND 
PUT IN COMMAND OF FORTRESS MONROE. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN not only congratulated 
Gen. Butler on his brilliant success in taking 
Baltimore, but he tendered him a commission as 
major-general, as a substantial proof of his apprecia- 
tion of his ability and services, saying, *' Now, gen- 
eral, take your old command, and go down to 
Fortress Monroe. Whatever additional force you 
may ask for, shall be furnished you, with a view to 
the ultimate capture of Norfolk." Parton says, 
" Gens. McClellan and Banks were still in the pay 
of their respective railroad companies when Gen. 
Butler received his promotion : hence he was the 
senior major-general in the service of the United 
States." 

He reached Fortress Monroe on the morning of 
May 22. He found that almost every thing needful 
for comfort, use, and success, was wanting, except 
soldiers ; and these he had brought with him. The 
old fort was dilapidated, and at best incapable of 
furnishing quarters for his force. There were no 



50 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

horses nor wagons, and the water was a mile away, 
the wood nearly as far ; and all supplies of provisions 
had to be carried on the backs of the soldiers, or 
rolled in barrels, by hand, on the ground, from the 
wharf to the fort. 

The general began to ask for what was imperiously 
demanded, and he at once began not to get it. He 
then got permission for his brother to purchase a lot 
of horses. He got the permission, but not the horses ; 
for, just as they were ready to ship, a requisition from 
the War Department took them out of Col. Butler's 
hands, and put them in the artillery-service at Wash- 
ington. This is a fair sample of the treatment he 
received : hence it were useless to particularize. He 
did not permit his embarrassments to cool his ardor, 
or lessen his active efforts to do good service. He 
reconnoitred the surrounding country. He occupied 
Newport News, with the ultimate view of capturing 
Richmond, and ending the rebellion. 

THE FIRST CONTRABANDS. 

On the evening of May 24, 1861, Major-Gen. Butler 
was informed that three negro men had been brought 
into camp at their own request, they having volun- 
tarily surrendered to one of his pickets. These 
negroes said they had belonged to Col. Mallory, who 
was on the point of sending them to North Carolina 
to work on rebel forts; and they objected to being 
separated from their famihes. Gen. Butler reflected 
a moment. Here was a great question to be solved. 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 5 1 

Col. Mallory was a rebel ; and if his horses, or any 
ordinary property belonging to him, had fallen into 
Gen. Butler's hands, he would not have hesitated 
about using it in the service of the country. Then 
why not his slaves ? 

These negroes were about to be set to work on 
rebel fortifications, to be utilized against the Govern- 
ment : they were regarded as property by their mas- 
ters ; and, if so, why not, like other property, subject 
to confiscation .'' 

*'The South," said Wendell Phillips, "fought to 
sustain slavery, and the North fought not to have it 
hurt." Here was a conundrum; and Gen. Butler 
solved it by pronouncing that magical word, '' contra- 
bandy Yes, these negroes are, according to the 
rules of war, contraband ; and he ordered them set 
to work. 

The news spread among the slave-population, and 
the negroes came in from every quarter daily. 

A rebel officer, Major Carey, sent Gen. Butler a 
note asking an interview on the high road, a mile 
from the fort. It was granted at once ; and the gen- 
eral, accompanied by his staff, rode out to meet some 
of his old Democratic friends, whom he had not seen 
since the adjournment of the Baltimore Convention. 
After a polite but rather stately greeting. Major 
Carey said, — 

*'I wish to know, sir, upon what principles you 
propose to conduct the war } I am agent for Col. 
Mallory ; and, having learned that three negroes 
belonging to him have escaped within your lines, I 
wish to ask what you mean to do with them } " 



52 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

^' I propose to keep them, and make them useful to 
the Government." 

"Do you mean, then, to set aside your constitu- 
tional obligations ? " 

"I mean to abide by the decision of Virginia, as 
expressed in her ordinance of secession passed day 
before yesterday. I am under no constitutional obli- 
gations to a foreign country, which Virginia now 
claims to be." 

** But you say we can't secede, and so you can't 
consistently detain the negroes." 

" But you say you have seceded : hence you can't 
consistently claim them. I shall hold them as con- 
traband of war. You were using them against the 
Government : I propose to use them in favor of it. 
If, however, Col. Mallory will come in and take the 
oath of allegiance to the United States, he shall have 
his negroes." 

At this point the conversation ended. 

Gen. Butler wrote the Government in regard to this 
matter, giving his views very fully. He said, 
among other things, "These negroes are being used 
against the Government by its foes. They were 
used in the erection of Sewell's Point batteries, from 
which my command was fired on. Without them 
these batteries could not have been built for many 
weeks, at least. As a military question, it would 
seem to be a matter of necessity to deprive the rebels 
of their services ; and, if I accept the services of 
father and mother, would not sentiments of humanity 
dictate that I also take care of the children ? " 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 5J 

The Secretary of War wrote, in reply, that his con- 
duct in regard to the negroes was fully approved by 
the Government. But the slaveholding rebel author-, 
ities, and the kid-gloved West-Point dilettanti, con- 
demned it. In the light of gathered experience, who 
does not pronounce it one of the wisest, grandest, 
and most patriotic measures of that stormy but 
wonderfully educative era } 

Many incidents of interest occurred in this connec- 
tion ; some amusing, otheirs pathetic, some combining 
the two. The following will serve as an illustration 
of the latter class. An old Virginia gentleman came 
to Gen. Butler's headquarters one day, to ask that 
one of his thirty negroes, who had all escaped to the 
fort, might be returned. 

His countenance was elongated by sadness, and 
clouded by grief; and his voice quavered as though 
partially paralyzed by a touch from the wand of 
despair. He said, "I allers treated my niggers kind, 
and I thought they all loved me. Last Sunday I 
went to the house of God ; and, when I got back, 
I entered my house, and I found nobody there. I 
called for Mary, to take off my coat, and hang it up ; 
but Mary didn't come. Then I went into the next 
room, to find Mary ; but I found her not : there was 
no Mary there. I went into the kitchen ; but there 
was nobody in the kitchen. I went into the garden ; 
but there was nobody in the garden. I went to the 
nigger-quarters ; but there was nobody in the nigger- 
quarters. I went into my house, and I felt very 
lonesome. After a while Jeems came to me. Jeems 



54 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

is my bcdy-sarvant, and he has sarved me faithfully 
for many years. 

** I asked Jeems what had happened, and Jeems 
said all the people had gone to the fort. 

" ' While I was at the house of God, Jeems ? * - 

**'Yes, massa: they're all gone.' 

''And I said to Jeems, 'Why didn't you go too, 
Jeems ? ' 

"And Jeems said, 'Oh, massa! I'll never leave 
you.' 

" ' Well, Jeems,' said I, 'as there's nobody to cook, 
see if you can't get me some cold vittles and some 
whiskey, Jeems.' 

" And, when I had eaten, I said to Jeems, — 

" 'Jeems, it's no use our stayin' here. We will go 
to your mistress.' His mistress, sir, had gone away 
from home about eleven miles, fleeing from the 
dangers of the war. And so, 'Jeems,' said I, 'har- 
ness up the best horse to the cart, and put into the 
cart our best bed, and some bacon, and some corn- 
meal, and, Jeems, some whiskey ; and we'll go unto 
your mistress, Jeems.* And Jeems harnessed up the 
cart, and we started. It was late at night, sir, when 
we got there; so I said to Jeems, 'Jeems, it's no use 
to unload the cart to-night. Put the horse in the 
stable, Jeems, and unload the cart in the mornin'.' 

"And Jeems said, 'Yes, massa.' 

" I met my wife, sir ; I embraced her, and went to 
bed. Next mornin', ycems was go?ie ! Then I 
came here ; and the first thing I saw when I got 
here was Jeems, a-peddlin' cabbages to your men, out 
of that very cart I " 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 55 

The general and his staff were sorry for the poor 
old man who had been so fearfully deceived in regard 
to the amount of affection his slaves had entertained 
for him ; but the amusing features of the case, as he 
presented it, predominated, and a general laugh fol- 
lowed. 

The old Virginian did not laugh. On the contrary, 
he turned on his heel, and left the fort, without an- 
other word beini^ said on either side. 

On the 27th of May, Gen. Butler wrote to the War 
Department, that, in his opinion, Richmond could be 
reached and captured by way of the James River. 

He said, ** I have a force of six thousand men ; but 
I have no horses or wagons, and I shall need a large 
number of surf-boats for landing my men, &c." In 
this communication he presented a carefully pre- 
pared and elaborate plan of his proposed campaign, 
which he was confident, and is still confident, would 
have been successful had the means asked for been 
furnished, but they were not. He was even obliged 
to order nine of his own horses from his home at 
Lowell, as a matter of pressing necessity. No amount 
of asking, urging, ot any thing else, not even the 
influence of official friends at the seat of government, 
could influence the commander-in-chief to furnish 
this brave and active soldier the means of striking 
an effective blow. 

A gentleman occupying a high position in the War 
Office wrote Gen. Butler, " I told the President to- 
day that • would never let you have troops and 

means to make a decisive blow ; and I read the de- 



56 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

spatch, to show that I understood my man. He in- 
tended to treat you as he did, and as he has always 
treated those who he knew would be effective if he 
gave them the means. He retains every thing in his 
own power, and under his own immediate control, so 
as to monopolize all the reputation to be made." 

THE BATTLE OF GREAT BETHEL. 

Gen. Butler became impatient under such treat- 
ment, and resolved to strike for his country. This 
seemed necessary, for the reason that the rebels were 
growing bold, and might conclude to attack his lines 
ere long. Indeed, they were sending out squads, and 
capturing Union men and negroes daily. 

They had fortified two points near by, — Great 
Bethel and Little Bethel ; and Gen. Butler resolved 
upon the capture of these posts, though his positive 
orders limited him to a half-day's march from his 
headquarters. 

The plans were well laid; but he had no cavalry, 
very little artillery, and not an officer or soldier who 
had ever been in battle. 

He gave the chief command to Gen. E. W. Pierce, 
formerly his senior officer in the Massachusetts 
militia. Barton says, '* This was by way of atone- 
ment to Gen. Pierce for having taken the place wi4ch 
by seniority belonged to him, and was honorable to 
his feelings as a man, but a blunder in a military 
point of view. Gen. Pierce was a brave and good 
man, but at that time wholly unfit for so responsible 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 57 

a duty." It were needless to repeat the history of 
that day's blunders. Suffice it that the expedition 
proved a failure ; and our troops, sent out in detach- 
ments at night, fired on each other on two different 
occasions, and finally retreated before the rebels, 
after the loss of some twenty men, including among 
the killed Major Winthrop and Lieut. Greble. 

Many blunders of greater magnitude have been 
made since ; but this was the first, and it attracted 
universal attention. Gen. Pierce was so mortified at 
his failure, that, at the end of the three-months* 
campaign, he enlisted for three years as a private 
soldier, with a determination to serve his country, 
which proved his patriotism and his courage, and 
with the sensible resolve to take some lessons in 
obeying orders before again attempting to command. 
He proved so excellent a soldier, that, by dint of 
merit, he rose to the command of a regiment, and 
was severely wounded while riding at the head of 
his command in one of the battles of the Penin- 
sula. 

To Gen. Butler the defeat at Great Bethel was full 
of lessons. He felt badly about it, of course ; but 
reflection led him to the conclusion that it was just 
what might have been expected under the circum- 
stances, hampered and embarrassed as he was by 
want of means to make aggressive war, and with 
none but undisciplined troops, who had not been 
under fire, hence subject to panic on the slightest 
occasion. One of the important lessons he learned 
was this, that raw troops are not to be relied upon in 



58 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

an engagement, tmless commanded by veteran offi- 
cers in whom they have implicit confidence. 

The author agrees with James Parton, in the 
opinion that the greatest misfortune to the country 
resulting from this affair was, that, through the exag- 
gerations and misrepresentations of the public press 
at a time when public attention was centred almost 
exclusively upon him, it served to cast a shadow 
upon the fame of the greatest general then in the 
service, concealing temporarily his real merits. Com- 
plete success here, following his briUiant career at 
Annapolis and Baltimore, would undoubtedly have 
forced him into such prominent popularity, that the 
American people would have demanded for him a 
leading position in the conduct of the war. 

Gen. Butler was not the sort of man that permits 
a single repulse to cool his ardor, or destroy his 
confidence in plans he knows to be wisely formed. 
He still had unshaken confidence in his previously 
formed opinion, that the way to Richmond was by 
the James River ; and his preparations for sweeping 
the rebels from the Virginia part of the Peninsula 
went forward with unabated activity. But, just as he 
felt himself prepared to make a formidable advance, 
the battle of Bull Run occurred ; and this disgraceful 
disaster was followed immediately by a despatch from 
Gen. Scott to Gen. Butler to send to Washington the 
bulk and the flower of his army, including Col. Baker 
and his command. Of course the expedition was 
abandoned. 

The news of the battle of Bull Run, and the with- 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 59 

drawal of a large part of the force from Fortress 
Monroe, left that post in an exposed position ; but 
Gen. Butler was not frightened. He wrote : ** We 
have heard the sad news from Manassas, but are 
neither dismayed nor disheartened. It will have the 
same good effect upon the army in general that Big 
Bethel has had upon my division, — to teach wherein 
we are weak, and the rebels strong, and how to apply 
the remedy to our deficiencies. Let not the admin- 
istration be discouraged ; let no mourning be felt, or 
compromises be made. God helping, we will go 
through to assured success. But let us have no 
more of the silk glove in carrying on this war. Let 
these men be considered what they have made them- 
selves, — our enemies ; and let their property of all 
kinds, whenever it can be useful to us, be taken on 
the land, as they take ours on the sea. There seems 
to me now but" one of two ways, — either to make an 
advance from this place with sufftcient force, or else, 
leaving a simple garrison here, to send six thousand 
men that might be spared on the other line, or still 
another to make a descent upon the southern coast. 
I am ready and desirous to move forward in either." 

His letter won him the friendship of the radicals, 
his old-time political foes, but was not at all popular 
among the conservatives with whom he had affiliated 
all his life. Lewis Tappan wrote him a letter full of 
praise for his patriotic sentiments. In his reply he 
said, " I have endeavored to do my duty, following 
the best light I have ; and the event must be in the 
hands of Him who ordereth all things well." 



60 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



SUPPRESSING THE LIQUOR-TRAFFIC. 

The author cannot afford, even in so brief a work 
as this must necessarily be, to omit an account of 
Gen. Butler's successful efforts in suppressing drunk- 
enness in his command. He observed that the pick- 
ets would often go on duty perfectly sober, and come 
in very drunk. He could not guess where they got 
the liquor, as their canteens were free from the smell 
of it. It was finally observed that they carried their 
guns very perpendicularly, and this led to the discov- 
ery that the barrels were full of whiskey. The gen- 
eral, on instituting a vigorous search, found that the 
sutler was keeping a private saloon. It was short 
work for him, and he did it personally, to knock in 
the heads of some half-dozen barrels of all sorts of 
liquors, and turn the contents on the thirsty ground. 
He found the book containing the private account of 
the sutler with his officers, for whiskey, brandy, &c., 
and was astonished and mortified to find that nearly 
every officer in his command had accounts against 
him, some of which were very large. The drinking 
had been done almost solely at Newport News : hence 
it had in large part escaped the personal notice of the 
general. But, on getting possession of this book, he 
went to Newport News ; and, calling his officers to- 
gether, he exhibited the documentary proof of their 
guilt, and then proceeded to deliver a very eloquent 
and forcible temperance-lecture. He pointed out 
the evils of such conduct, and not only urged that a 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 6 1 

Stop be put to drinking in his department, but as- 
sured them that he meant to put a stop to it. He 
gave his solemn pledge, on the honor of an officer 
and a man, that all that could intoxicate should be 
banished from his own quarters ; and he earnestly- 
hoped that they would join their commander in this 
pledge. They did so unanimously, with a^ single ex- 
ception ; and the resignation of this obstinate cap- 
tain was instantly handed in and accepted. 

GENERAL BUTLER CAPTURES FORT HATTERAS. 

While Gen. Butler was chafing under nis wrongs 
at having his plans all spoiled by being deprived of a 
large part of his force, he suddenly found himself 
relieved of his command by Gen. Wool. The order 
from headquarters relieving him did not assign him 
to duty anywhere else, nor even instruct him to re- 
port at Washington. He therefore remained at Fort 
Monroe, and accepted service under Gen. Wool, who, 
recognizing his ability, gave him the command of the 
volunteer forces, comprising five regiments and two 
battalions. He h^d been planning the reduction of 
Fort Hatteras, and to this work Gen. Wool now as- 
signed him. His brilliant success in this expedition 
is a matter of familiar history. The work was done 
promptly and done well ; but he now found himself 
out of employment, and West Point influence had by 
this time grown so potent that it looked as though 
all effective volunteer generals were to be either re- 
tired from the service, or put where they could not 



62 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

do any thing to demonstrate their superiority over 
the kid-glove military aristocracy. 

These gentry soon found that Gen. Butler was one 
of the irrepressibles. He obtained from the Secre- 
tary of War permission to recruit a force in Massa- 
chusetts with a view to carrying out his plan of driv- 
ing the rebels from the Peninsula ; but on reaching 
Boston he was informed by Gov. Andrew, that he 
had promised Gen. Sherman all new regiments that 
might be raised in that State for some time to come. 
Before learning this he had announced a war speech 
for Faneuil Hall ; but, finding himself checkmated 
by the wily old sachem Tecumseh, he withdrew the 
appointment, and left for Washington, saying, ^' I go 
for a vigorous prosecution of the war, as evidence 
of which I am gone." This had a double meaning. 
He recognized the fact. that he had two hosts of foes 
to contend with, — the armed rebels, and the regular 
army ring which had resolved to monopolize all the 
glory and other advantages incident to the war. He 
asked the Secretary of War for a recruiting commis- 
sion covering the whole of New England. It was 
granted, with permission to raise six regiments, and 
to arm them as he pleased. Lest this might be 
revoked, he sought and obtained the President's 
indorsement of this order. On returning to Boston, 
Gov. Andrew objected to his entering the field in 
competition with Gen. Sherman, and a coolness 
arose ; but, on the governor's own proposition, Gen. 
Butler agreed to wait a week, for Gen. Sherman's 
regiments to be filled, he in the mean time beginning 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 6$ 

operations in Maine. In the mean time, by order of 
Gen. Scott, the six New-England States were erected 
into a mihtary department, and placed under the 
command of Major-Gen. B. F. Butler, with head- 
quarters at Boston. This proved offensive to Gov. 
Andrew, who held that Gen. Butler was interfering 
with his prerogative as governor and commander- 
in-chief of the mxilitia of the State ; and he threw all 
the obstacles possible in Gen. Butler's way, refusing 
to commission his officers, &c. The quarrel was an 
unfortunate one ; but while we regard Gov. Andrew 
a good man, who had the best interest of the country 
at heart, he was not entirely free from those faults so 
common to all men, partisan preference and personal 
ambition. He was piqued at Gen. Butler for over- 
riding his authority with his order from the War 
Department ; and "he desired, if he did commission 
officers in Massachusetts regiments, such officers 
should be selected by himself, and not by Gen. But- 
ler. Gen. Butler, on the other hand, was faithfully 
doing his duty under orders from the War Depart- 
ment, as a recruiting officer, with the expectation of 
commanding the men he was recruiting : hence he 
wanted the various regiments commanded by good 
officers, men whom he knew and in whom he could 
have confidence. Hard words were said. The news- 
papers magnified and misrepresented the matter. 
The result was such delay of Gen. Butler's opera- 
tions that the carrying-out of his scheme to clear 
the Peninsula of rebels fell to Gen. Dix, who got 
the glory which would, and rightfully should, have 
rested upon the head of Gen. Butler. 



64 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

He went to Washington to see what there was for 
him to do. He was asked to report a plan for the 
capture of Mobile. He did so : it was accepted, and 
he ordered to enter upon the expedition. He re- 
turned to Boston, started Gen. Phelps for Ship Island ; 
back to Washington, to find his plan out of favor, 
and himself called upon to prepare a plan for a Texas 
campaign. He did so ; and Gen. McClellan said 
it was able, lucid, and complete. Home again for 
more troops, for Texas this time. "The Constitu- 
tion," which had borne Gen. Phelps to Ship Island, 
had returned. He resolved to send her to Texas, 
with two regiments. He had got them on board, 
when a despatch from Washington was received. It 
read, '' Dont sail ! Disembark ! " 

The cause of this sudden change of programme 
was the demand of Great Britain for the surrender 
of Mason and Slidell, who had been captured on a 
British vessel, and were now prisoners in Fort War- 
ren. It was probable that war with England might 
demand his services, and the services of his troops 
in Canada. He was ready for this. He opposed 
strongly the idea of yielding to the demand for the 
surrender of these arch traitors in obedience to an 
insulting threat from an arrogant nation, which had 
shown itself in sympathy with the rebels from the 
first. He, with many others, thought that a war with 
England, if . it should come to that, would unify and 
strengthen us as a nation. He said, ''I can raise 
fifty thousand additional men in New England alone, 
who will follow me into Canada before England can 



HE IS PROMOTED TO MAJOR-GENERAL. 65 

land a single soldier there, and take possession of 
and hold that province against the combined jEleet of 
Great Britain." A different policy prevailed,, how- 
ever. Mason and Slidell were surrendered, and this 
new war-cloud passed away ; and Gen. Butler sailed 
with his command to Fortress Monroe, where they 
were destined to remain inactive for a long time, due 
partly to an important change in the War Office, Mr. 
Cameron going out, and Mr. Stanton coming in. 

Secretary Stanton entered upon his new duties 
with a determination to prosecute the war with vigor : 
hence he naturally sought an important field of 
operations for so brave and energetic a general as 
Butler. On the loth of January, 1862, Secretary 
Stanton electrified Gen, Butler by asking him the 
question, '* Why can't New Orleans be taken .'* " 

''It can,'' responded the general. *' I've thought of 
it before." 

"■ Prepare a plan, said tne secretary ; and Gen. 
Butler set to work in high hopes that now an expedi- 
tion worthy of his metal was about to be offered him. 

Gen. McClellan advised against it, saying, '' It will 
take fifty thousand men, and that force cannot be 
spared." 

Gen. Butler went to the White House ; and, by dint 
of such eloquence and logic as he alone knows how 
to use, he won the President. His joy almost over- 
came him. But Gen. McClellan refused to give him 
a single soldier from the idle army of two hundred 
thousand then at Washington. But his troops at 
Fort Monroe were available, and he had eighty-five 



66 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

hundred still in New England ; and finally, after some 
delays, the Department of the Gulf was created, and 
Major-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler assigned to the com- 
mand. 

On the 24th of February he left Washington for 
his new field of labor, — a field yet to be conquered. 
His force consisted of 15,255 men, mostly raw troops 
from New England, but including the 21st Indiana, 
4th Wisconsin, and 6th Michigan, — all veterans. 

His destination and plans were a profound secret 
between the heads of the departments at Washing- 
ton, himself. Major Strong, and Lieut. Weitzel of his 
staff. 

The general's wife had shared his camp-life from 
the first, and she bravely volunteered to accompany 
him on this perilous expedition. 



THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. 6/ 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. 

AFTER a stormy voyage of a month, and many 
adventures, Gen. Butler landed on Ship Island, 
a strip of land seven miles in length, and less than 
one in width, situated sixty-five miles below New 
Orleans. It was now the last of March, and in this 
Southern clime the weather was very sultry ; insects 
were numerous, and but few comforts to be had to 
offset the numerous discomforts. But Gen. Butler 
an^ his men were not pleasure-seekers : they were 
soldiers whose determined purpose it was to capture 
and hold New Orleans. Capt. Farragut was there 
with his fleet, ready to co-operate in this grand 
scheme ; and preparations were entered upon with 
vigor. Capt. Farragut said he could be ready to 
move on Forts Jackson and St. Philip in a week ; 
and Gen. Butler undertook to be ready also to move 
in that time, though an immense amount of work 
was to be done. He worked night and day, heartily 
seconded by his officers and soldiers. 

The obstacles between these land and naval forces 
and the city of New Orleans were many and for- 



68 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

midable, — the two forts mounting a hundred and 
twenty heavy guns, fully manned, and ar^ly supplied 
with ammunition ; an immense cable stretched across 
the channel, immediately below Fort Jackson, which 
must be cut before a vessel could pass that point ; 
and above this, the rebel fleet of vessels, iron-clads, 
and rams. 

The rebel commanders felt confident that they 
could defend the approaches to the city against the 
combined naval force of the world : hence they were 
disposed to laugh at the preparations of Capt. Farra- 
gut and Gen. Butler. 

On the 17th of April the fleet stood in battle 
array, four miles below Fort Jackson. The guns 
of the fort opened upon it, but Capt. Farragut did 
not reply for some hours. He and his men had 
enough to do to destroy the numerous fire-rafts sent 
down upon them by the rebels ; but in the afternoon 
a few of the mortar-boats were allowed to open on 
the fort. The next morning at daybreak the battle 
began in earnest ; the mortar-boats having moved 
up, and taken positions from one and a half to two 
and a half miles from Fort St. Philip. A news- 
paper-correspondent who witnessed the battle from 
a lofty position on the flagship describes it as highly 
interesting and grand. Immense balls were whiz- 
zing through the air, and falling like meteoric globes 
about the boats, plashing the water in all directions. 
The masts of the vessels were crowded with men, 
eager to see what effect our shots were having upon 
the fort ; and, when a two-hundred-pound shell would 



THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. 69 

drop in among the rebel gunners, a shout would go 
up from these spectators. The battle raged una- 
bated for two days, when Gen. Butler, who had been 
an anxious looker-on from below, visited Capt. Farra- 
gut on the flagship " Hartford ; " and after a confer- 
ence it was decided that the cable must be cut, and 
the forts passed in the night under cover of darkness, 
for it was now evident that they could not be reduced 
by bombardment. On the next night Capt. Bell 
with two gunboats, the '' Pinola " and " Itasca," ran 
up to the cable, and cut it. 

During this operation, which lasted an hour and a 
half, Capt. Porter kept up a furious bombardment 
of the forts, with a view of attracting attention from 
Capt. Bell's little fleet ; but this was not successful. 
Capt. Bell was discovered, and a heavy fire opened 
on him from the rebel batteries. He paid no atten- 
tion to it, however ; but he and his brave men worked 
with determined energy, until the mighty iron cable 
parted, leaving the channel of the river again naviga- 
ble. He then dropped down, and made report to his 
commander. 

Preparations now went forward, looking to the 
desparate venture of running the gauntlet between 
these two forts. The battle, however, still continued 
with unabated vigor on both sides. It lasted a hun- 
dred and forty-nine hours. 

At two o'clock on the night of the 23d of April 
the signal was given, and the fleet began to move. 
Every thing had been prepared for the most rapid 
fire possible during the hour and a quarter necessary 



70 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

to pass the forts ; and during that time from five 
to eight of those monster two-hundred-pound shells 
were in the air constantly, and the roar, the crash, 
the smoke, were terrific. Just as the first ship, "The 
Cayuga," passed the cable, the design was obvious 
to the rebels ; and both forts opened on the fleet 
with every gun. The bombs and shot fell around 
the ships like hail ; but the ships and gunboats held 
on their way, each giving the fort a broadside as it 
passed. The forts passed, Capt. Farragut found 
himself hotly engaged by the rebel fleet of ships, 
gunboats, and iron-clad monsters, including the 
''Morgan" and "Manassas." Numerous fire-rafts 
were also hurled upon him ; but he was fully pre- 
pared for these, hence but little damage was done 
by them. In the midst of the battle, the flagship 
took fire. 

"This [says a correspondent of "The Herald"] was the 
crowning moment of this unparalleled fight. It was beyond 
description. Twenty mortars, a hundred and forty-two guns in 
the fleet, a hundred and twenty on the forts, the crash of 
splinters, the explosion of boilers and magazines, the cries, the 
shrieks of scalded and drowning men, the belching flashes of 
the guns, the blazing rafts, the burning steamboats, the river full 
of fire, — all combined to produce a spectacle of unparalleled 
grandeur and terror. But, if it was terrible, it was of short 
duration ; for the forts were passed, and the rebel fleet destroyed 
and captured, in an hour and a half. ' The Cayuga' had been 
struck forty-two times, damaging her rigging considerably ; but 
Capt. Bailey ran ashore five miles above the forts, and captured 
a quarantine station, and, as the other ships came to anchor, 
repeated shouts of victory rent the morning air. It is a re- 
markable fact, that, except 'The Itasca' and 'Varuna,'not a 



THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. /I 

vessel in the fleet had been seriously injured. Gen. Butler 
witnessed this splendid naval engagement from the deck of 
' The Saxon ; ' and, when it ended, he dropped down to his 
transports, which were put in motion, with the purpose of land- 
ing the troops back of and above Fort St. Philip ; for it will be 
borne in mind that the forts had not been captured. On the 
morning of the 26th, Gen. Butler having landed, the forts were 
invested on all sides. The same evening news reached the 
general that Capt. Farragut had anchored his fleet in the harbor 
of New Orleans ; and, leaving Gen. Williams in command of 
his troops, he, in company with Capt. Boggs, went up to the 
city. That night a large body of rebel troops came in, and 
surrendered to Butler's forces ; and the next morning the officers 
of the forts made a formal surrender to Capt. Porter. The 
victory was now complete, and Gen. Butler was master of New 
Orleans. Justice requires that the glory of this grand achieve- 
ment should be shared mutually by Gen. Butler and Capt. Far- 
ragut." 

Parton says, — 

" If the splendid daring of Capt. Farragut and his fleet de- 
prived Gen. Butler of his lieutenant-generalship, it is but just 
to him to declare that the prompt and unexpected landing of 
the troops in the rear of Fort St. Philip compelled the surrender 
of the forts. Fighting wins laurels, but a manoeuvre that ac- 
complishes results without fighting also merits recognition." 

Yes ; and when the historian shall write for t7'uly 
civilized readers, the fame of the commander who 
achieves triumphs without bloodshed will rank far 
above that of the chieftain who hurls his army upon 
the foe regardless of danger to himself or others. 



72 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GEN. butler's CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 

THE chief characteristics of Gen. Butler are 
honesty of purpose, calm deliberation, wise and 
comprehensive judgment, and firm and prompt execu- 
tive force. He does nothing hastily, nothing that 
he thinks is wrong ; but, when his mind is made up, 
he acts with vigor : hence, when placed in an impor- 
tant position, those who agree with him admire him, 
but those who oppose his views hate him. There can 
be no middle ground of indifference from which to 
contemplate a character so great and so positive as 
he. In the light of this analysis, it is easy to under- 
stand why his most admirable, almost faultless, 
administration at New Orleans should have provoked 
such bitter denunciations and extravagant misrepre- 
sentations from the rebels and their sympathizers in 
this country and Europe, while it won him the grati- 
tude of the President and all intelligent patriots 
throughout the whole country. The population of 
New Orleans was composed almost wholly of aristo- 
crats and roughs. With rare exceptions the people 
were extremely excitable and intensely disloyal. 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 73 

When it was known in the city that the forts had 
surrendered, the rebel navy had been destroyed, and 
Gen. Butler was on his way to take possession of the 
city, ex-senator Soule advised the burning of all 
the cotton and other merchandise on the levee and 
the steamers in the harbor, and with his own hand he 
began the work of destruction by applying a lighted 
torch to a pile of cotton-bales belonging to himself ; 
and it is estimated that not less than two hundred and 
fifty thousand bales of cotton, besides an immense 
amount of other property, were destroyed. And, 
when Capt. Farragut came in view of the city, the 
whole seven miles of wharf was a sea of fire ; and but 
for the active efforts of what was styled the " Euro- 
pean Brigade," composed of non-residents, the city 
would have suffered general pillage and destruction 
before our forces landed. 

Capt. Farragut sent a message to Mayor Monroe, 
demanding the formal surrender of the city, and the 
running-up of the stars and stripes instead of the 
rebel flag on the public buildings. The reply was a 
peremptory refusal from Gen. Lovell, the rebel com- 
mander, who said, ''he had evacuated the city, but 
refused to surrender it ; and if Capt. Farragut chose 
to shell the town, destroying women and children, he 
was at liberty to do so." 

This was simply contemptible and insulting ; but 
he was assured that the object was to protect the 
city and its people, not destroy. 

Gen. Lovell immediately left the city, after deliver- 
ing himself of this chivalrous speech ; and the mayor 



74 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

refused to hoist the American flag, adding, "There 
lives not in this city a wretched renegade who w^ould 
so far demean himself as to lower the emblem of our 
aspirations." Capt. Farragut sent a force on shore 
with instructions to raise the emblem of the United 
States on the Custom House and other public build- 
ings, which was done ; and the mob were informed, 
that, if the flags were interfered with, the buildings 
would be instantly fired upon from the fleet. 

On Sunday, while the men on board were at wor- 
ship, the notorious gambler Mumford, assisted by 
three others, tore down the flag from its staff on the 
Mint, and, after dragging it through the street till it 
was covered with filth, tore it in pieces. 

The men on the lookout of " The Pensacola " saw 
the act, and pulled the cords of the guns all along the 
broadside, but the wafers had been removed, and the 
guns were not discharged, which fortunate circum- 
stance saved many lives. 

"The Picayune" next morning glorified the act, 
saying, — 

" The names of the men who distinguished themselves by 
gallantly tearing down the flag that has been surreptitiously 
hoisted are W. B. Mumford, Lieut. N. Hohnes, Sergeant Burns, 
and James Reed. These men deserve great credit for their 
l>atriotic act," &c. 

Gen. Butler arrived a few hours after the flag had 
been torn down ; and if he had been the rash and 
cruel man he was afterwards described by the rebels, 
North and South, he would have ordered the city 
shelled for such an outrage. 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 75 

He saw clearly that such a lawless spirit must be 
suppressed : hence he advised the captain to threaten 
bombardment if any more insults should be offered 
the American flag ; and, as a preliminary, he ordered 
the women and children to leave town. 

On the 1st of May, Gen. Butler, having returned 
to his transports to bring his command to the city, 
landed at New Orleans with his entire force. 

Before permitting the troops to go on shore, the 
following was read : — 

Headquarters Department of the Gulf, 
New Orleans, May i, 1862. 
General Order No. 15. 

I. In anticipation of the immediate disembarkation of the 
troops of this command amid the temptations and inducements 
of a large city, all plundering of public or private property, by 
any person or persons, is hereby forbidden under the severest 
penalties. 

II. No officer or soldier will absent himself from his station, 
without arms or alone, under any pretext whatever. 

III. The commanders of regiments and companies will be 
held responsible for the strict execution of these orders. 

By command of 

Major-Gen. Butler. 
George C. Strong, A-. A. G. 

The general also gave strict orders that no officer 
or soldier should resent any insult, or reply to any 
taunt. 

Gen. Butler landed with the first detachment, and 
marched to the Custom House to the music of a 
band which played "The Star-spangled Banner." 
The crowd which filled the streets, and followed the 
line of march, showered profane and vulgar epithets 



y6 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

upon him, and cheered for Beauregard ; but no notice 
was taken of them. The following proclamation, 
which was set up and printed by Union soldiers in 
the *' True Delta" office, — the proprietors of the 
office refusing to do the job, — furnishes a clear 
insight into Gen. Butler's policy : — 



PROCLAMATION OF GEN. BUTLER. 

Headquarters Department of the Gulf, 
New Orleans, May i, 1862. 

The city of New Orleans and its environs, with all its 
interior and exterior defences, having surrendered to the com- 
bined naval and land forces of the United States, and being 
now in the occupation of the forces of the United States, who 
have come to restore order, maintain public tranquillity, and en- 
force peace and quiet under the laws and constitution of the 
United States, the major-general commanding hereby proclaims 
the object and purposes of the Government of the United 
States in thus taking possession of New Orleans and the State 
of Louisiana, and the rules and regulations by which the laws 
of the United States will be for the present, and during the 
state of war, enforced and maintained for the plain guidance of 
all good citizens of the United States, as well as all others who 
may have heretofore been in rebellion against their authority. 

Thrice before has the city of New Orleans been rescued from 
the hands of a foreign government, and still more calamitous 
domestic insurrection, by the money and arms of the United 
States. It has of late been under the military control of the 
rebel forces ; and at each time, in the judgment of the com- 
manders of the military forces holding it, it has been found 
necessary to preserve order and maintain quiet by an adminis- 
tration of martial law. Even during the interim from its evac- 
uation by the rebel soldiers, and its actual possession by the 
soldiers of the United States, the civil authorities have found 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. JJ 

it necessary to call for the intervention of an armed body, 
known as the European Legion, to preserve the public tran- 
quillity. The commanding general, therefore, will cause the 
city to be guarded until the restoration of the United States 
authority and his further orders by martial law. 

All persons in arms against the United States are required 
to surrender themselves, with their arms, equipments, and muni- 
tions of war. The body known as the European Legion, not 
being understood to be in arms against the United States, but 
organized to protect the lives and property of the citizens, are 
invited to still co-operate with the forces of the United States 
to that end, and, so acting, will not be included in the terms of 
this order,, but will report to these headquarters. 

All ensigns, flags, devices, tending to uphold any authority 
whatever, save the flags of the United States and those of 
foreign consulates, must not be exhibited, but suppressed. The 
American ensign, the emblem of the United States, must be 
treated with the utmost deference and respect by all persons, 
under pain of severe punishment. 

All persons well disposed towards the Government of the 
United States, who shall renew the oath of allegiance, will re- 
ceive a safeguard of protection to their persons and property 
from the army of the United States, and the violation of such 
safeguard will be punishable with death. All persons still hold-- 
ing allegiance to the Confederate States will be deemed rebels, 
against the Government of the United States, and regarded' 
and treated as enemies thereof. 

All foreigners not naturalized, and claiming alledance to 
their respective governments, and not having made oath of 
allegiance to the Government of the Confederate States, will be 
protected in their persons and property, as heretofore, under 
the laws of the United States. All persons who may have 
heretofore given adherence to the supposed government of the 
Confederate States, or been in their service, who shall lay down 
or deliver up their arms, return to peaceful occupations, and 
preserve quiet and order, holding no further correspondence, 
nor giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States, 



y8 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

will not be disturbed in their persons or property, except so far 
under the orders of the commanding general as the exigencies 
of the public service may render necessary. 

Keepers of all public property, whether State, National, or 
Confederate, such as collections of art, libraries, and museums, 
as well as all public buildings, all munitions of war, and armed 
vessels, will at once make full returns thereof to these head- 
quarters. All manufacturers of arms and munitions of war will 
report to these headquarters their kind and places of business. 
All the rights of property, of whatever kind, will be held in- 
violate, subject only to the laws of the United States. All the 
inhabitants are enjoined to pursue their usual avocations. All 
shops and places of amusement are to be kept open in the 
accustomed manner, and services are to be held in the churches 
and religious houses, as in times of profound peace. 

Keepers of all public houses and drinking-saloons are to 
report their names and numbers to the office of the provost- 
marshal ; and they will then receive a license, and be held 
responsible for all disorders and disturbances arising in their 
respective places. 

Sufficient force will be kept in the city to preserve order and 
maintain the laws. The killing of American soldiers by any 
disorderly person or mob is simply assassination and murder, 
and not war, and will be so regarded and punished. The owner 
of any house in which such murder shall be committed will be 
held responsible therefor, and the house be liable to be de- 
stroyed by the military authority. All disorders, disturbances 
of the peace, and crimes of an aggravated nature, interfering 
with the forces or laws of the United States, will be referred to 
a military court for trial and punishment. Other misdemeanors 
will be subject to the municipal authority, if it desires to act. 

Civil causes between party and party will be referred to the 
ordinary tribunals. 

The levy and collection of taxes, save those imposed by the 
laws of the United States, are suppressed, except those for 
keeping in repair and lighting the streets, and for sanitary pur- 
poses. These are to be collected in the usual manner. 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 79 

The circulation of Confederate bonds, evidences of debt 
(except notes in the simihtude of bank-notes), issued by the 
Confederate States, or scrip, or any trade in the same, is for- 
bidden. It has been represented to the commanding general, 
by the civil authorities, that these Confederate notes, in the 
form of bank-notes, in a great measure are the only substitutes 
for money which the people have been allowed to have, and 
that great distress would ensue among the poorer classes if the 
circulation of such notes should be suppressed. Such circula- 
tion, therefore, will be permitted so long as any one will be 
inconsiderate enough to receive them, until further orders. 

No pubhcation of newspapers, pamphlets, or handbills, 
giving accounts of the movements of the soldiers of the United 
States within this department, reflecting in any way upon the 
United States, intended in any way to influence the public 
mind against the United States, will be permitted ; and all arti- 
cles on war news, editorial comments, or correspondence, mak- 
ing comments upon the movements of the armies of the United 
States, must be submitted to the examination of an officer, who 
will be detailed for that purpose from these headquarters. The 
transmission of all communications by telegraph will be under 
the charge of an officer detailed from these headquarters. 

The armies of the United States came here not to destroy, 
but to restore order out of chaos, to uphold the government 
and laws in the place of the " passage " of men. To this end, 
therefore, the efforts of all well disposed are invited, to have 
every species of disorder quelled. 

If any soldier of the United States should so far forget his 
duty or his flag as to commmit outrage upon any person or 
property, the commanding general requests his name to be in- 
stantly reported to the provost-guard, so that he may be pun- 
ished, and his wrongful act redressed. The municipal authority, 
so far as the police of the city and environs are concerned, is 
to extend as before indicated until suspended. 

All assemblages of persons in the streets, either by day or 
night, tend to disorder, and are forbidden. 

The various companies composing the Fire Department of 



80. LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

New Orleans will be permitted to retain their organizations, and 
are to report to the provost-marshal, so that they may be known, 
and not interfered with in their duties. 

And finally, it may be sufficient to add, without further 
enumeration, that all the requirements of martial law will be 
imposed so long as, in judgment of the United States authori- 
ties, it may be necessary; and, while it is desired by these 
authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the 
usages of the past, it must not be supposed that it will not be 
rigorously and firmly administered as the occasion calls for it. 
By command of 

Major-Gen. Butler. 
George B. Strong, ^,^.G., Chief of Staff. 

The next day the general established his head- 
quarters in the St. Charles Hotel, and notified Mayor 
Monroe that he should be glad to have a conference 
with him. At two o'clock, the miayor, Pierre Soule, 
and quite a party of leading men, waited upon the 
general in the ladies' parlor, which he had taken for 
his office. 

The interview had scarce begun when an aide to 
Gen. Williams, who was in command of the guard 
which had been placed about the hotel, came in to 
say that the general feared he would not be able to 
control the mob. Gen. Butler replied, — 

"Give my compliments to Gen. Williams, and tell 
him, if he cannot control the mob, to open upon 
them with artillery." 

** Don't do that," exclaimed Mayor Monroe and 
several other Southern men. 

" Why not, gentlemen } The mob must be con- 
trolled. We can't have disturbance in the street." 

" Shall I go out, and speak to the people.''" asked 
the mayor. 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 8 1 

"As you please : I only insist on having order." 

The mayor and Mr. Soule made short speeches, 
but it had very little effect. 

The mayor then said to Gen. Butler, *'You were 
formerly an advocate of the rights of the South. 
We looked upon you as our special friend and cham- 
pion." 

''Stop, sir," said the general: "I was always a 
friend of Southern rights, but a foe to Southern 
wrongs." 

At this point Lieut. Kinsman of the general's staff 
came in, accompanied by Judge Summers, a lo3^al 
citizen, who had fled to the fleet for protection from 
the mob, and now had ventured ashore under the 
lieutenant's protection, and whose life had been 
threatened, and was only saved by the officer's valor 
and courage, while getting from the landing to the 
hotel. 

The judge was so badly frightened that he did not 
feel safe even in the St. Charles ; and the general 
ordered the officer to summon a file of soldiers, and 
escort him to the Custom House. 

On reaching^ the side door, the judge thought the 
fifty soldiers inadequate to the task of protecting 
him from the immense and highly excited mob ; and 
he begged the lieutenant not to attempt to take him 
to the Custom House. ** But my orders are posi 
tive," he replied : " I must obey." The soldiers were 
formed in two lines, four feet apart, with two in front 
and two behind, with the lieutenant and the judge in 
the centre. Thus they marched, keeping the mob 



82 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

from the object of their vengeance by fixed bayo< 
nets. Two arrests were made of especially violent 
fellows ; and these were quieted only by orders from 
the officer to the soldiers, to run their bayonets into 
them if they did not keep quiet. This affair had a 
wholesome effect upon the New Orleans rebels. 

The same evening Gen. Butler drove from the St. 
Charles to the river, a distance of near a mile, with- 
out escort save a single orderly ; a fact which not 
only illustrated the cool courage of the man, but the 
fact that true courage is the best protection against 
a cowardly mob. On the following day a second 
conference was held between Gen. Butler and the 
leading men of the city, the mayor and his board of 
councilmen being present. The general explained 
his views and plans very fully in regard to the situa- 
tion, and his ideas of the government of the city ; 
and then politely invited a correspondingly frank 
expression from them. He assured them that it was 
his earnest wish that the municipal authorities should 
exercise their lawful functions, leaving him simply 
the duties of a military commander, whose business 
it was to represent the National Government, and 
sustain its authority against its foes. 

Mr. Soule replied, that the tranquillity of the city 
could not be maintained while the troops remained 
in it, and urged their inrmediate withdrawal. " The 
people are not conquered, and cannot be expected to 
act as a conquered people. Your soldiers cannot 
have peace or safety in our midst." 

Gen. Butler kept his temper as he replied, " I am 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 83 

surprised to hear a threat from Mr. Soule on an 
occasion of this sort. I have been accustomed to 
hear threats from Southern gentlemen in political 
conventions ; but I assure you gentlemen present, 
that the time for such tactics has passed, never to 
return. New Orleans is a conquered city : else how 
did we get here, and why are we here ? Did you 
open your arms, and bid us welcome ? Would you 
not expel us if you could .? No, gentlemen : New 
Orleans has been conquered by the forces of the 
United States, and by the laws of all nations is 
subject to the will of the conquerors. Nevertheless, 
when I propose to leave the municipal government 
to the free exercise of all its powers, I am answered 
by a threat. Gladly will I take every soldier out of 
the city the very hour it is demonstrated to me that 
the city government can and will protect me, and 
other loyal men, from insult and danger. Your in- 
ability or unwillingness to do this has been clearly 
shown by the treatment of my men this afternoon, 
and by the fact that Gen. Lovell was obliged to pro- 
claim martial law while his army occupied your city, 
to protect law-abiding citizens from the rowdies. 

'' I therefore proclaim martial law, not against 
respectable citizens, but against the same class that 
Gen. Wilkinson, Gen. Jackson, and Gen. Lovell de- 
clared it. I understand the situation better, perhaps, 
than you think. I am aware of the existence of 
an organization here established for the express pur- 
pose of assassinating my men in detail ; but I warn 
you that if a shot is fired from any house, it will 



84 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

never again shelter a mortal head, and if I can dis- 
cover the perpetrator of the deed, the place that 
knows him now shall know him no more forever. I 
have the power to suppress the unruly element in 
your midst ; and I mean to use it so effectually that 
in a short period I shall be able to traverse your 
streets alone free from insult or peril, or else this 
metropolis of the South shall be a desert from the 
Plains of Chalmette to the outskirts of Carrollton." 

The proclamation appeared the next day. Col. J. 
H. French being named as provost-marshal, and 
Major J. W. Bell as provost-judge. 

During that day the foreign consuls waited upon 
the general, and had a pleasant interview. A dele- 
gation of the city council also called to say that the 
proposal from him, that the city government should 
'go on as usual, was accepted ; and requesting the 
withdrawal of the troops from the City Hall, that the 
authorities might not seem to be acting under mili- 
tary dictation. This request was at once granted. 
The general also sent Gen. Williams and Capt. 
Farragut up to Baton Rouge, with Instructions to 
occupy and hold it. Camps were established out of 
the city for the bulk of the army ; so that in a short 
time but two hundred and fifty men remained in it, 
simply enough for a competent provost-guard. 

In a few days all was comparatively quiet ; and the 
press, though still rebel, almost complimented Gen. 
Butler in commenting upon the change. ** The Bee " 
of May the 8th said, "The Federal soldiers do hot 
seem to interfere with private property, and have 



HIS CAREER IN NEW ORLEANS. 85 

done nothing, that we are aware, to provoke difficulty. 
The usual nightly arrests for vagrancy and assaults, 
wounding and killing, have unquestionably been 
diminished. The city is as tranquil and peaceable 
as in the most quiet times." Thus it is evident that 
Gen. Butler's administration started well. We shall 
see, as we progress with this history, that it was 
characterized throughout by dignity, prudence, and 
wisdom, as well as firmness and patriotism. 



86 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GEN. BUTLER GIVES EMPLOYMENT TO THE POOR, THUS 
PREVENTING BOTH FAMINE AND PESTILENCE. 

WHEN Gen. Butler took command of New 
Orleans, there was not sufficient provisions to 
feed the people one month ; and the necessaries of 
life cost such fabulous prices that only the rich could 
purchase them. The poor were therefore on the 
borders of famine. Flour was selling for sixty dol- 
lars per barrel, and other articles corresponded in 
price. This had resulted from two causes chiefly : 
the war had destroyed the productiveness of the 
country and the trade of the city, and the rebel van- 
dalism had destroyed the accumulated stock of goods 
to prevent the Union army from getting possession 
of them. 

There were at least fifty thousand poor people, 
chiefly women and children, whose physical salvation 
depended upon the wisdom and philanthropy of one 
•man, and that man hated and reviled as no man ever 
had been in that city. Gen. Butler acted up to the 
standard of the true Christian, by a practical adop- 
tion of the sentiment expressed by the Saviour as he 



HE GIVES EMPLOYMENT TO THE POOR. 87 

hung upon the cross. He forgave them on the 
ground of their ignorance, and resolved to save them 
from death by famine. 

Mr. Parton says, "This object had precedence of 
all others during the first few days, after securing 
comparative quiet; but of course he could not give 
his whole attention to it. He strove to revive the 
business of the city, which was dead. Confidence in 
the honest intentions of the Union authorities did 
not exist : he endeavored to call it into being. The 
currency was deranged : he must rectify it. The 
secessionists were audaciously vigilant : he had to 
circumvent and repress them." 

The yellow-fever season was at hand : he was 
resolved to ward off the pestilence. The city gov- 
ernment was obstructive and hostile : it was his busi- 
ness to frustrate their endeavors. The negro problem 
loomed up vast and portentous : he must act upon it 
without delay. The banks were in disorder : their 
affairs demanded his attention. The consulates were 
so many centres of hostile operations : he had to 
penetrate their mysteries. His army was not large, 
his field of operation immense : he could not neglect 
the chief business of his mission to this Southern 
field of operations. He gave from his own purse one 
•thousand dollars toward the immediate relief of the 
starving poor ; and, on the suggestion of the city 
authorities, he gave permits to railroad and steamboat 
companies and traders to bring provisions into the 
city, the continuance of said permits being depend- 
ent upon their not giving intelligence, aid, or comfort 



88 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

to the rebel forces. For the faithful compliance with 
this provision he had the pledge of the city authori- 
ties, and for its execution he held them responsible. 
This obligation was violated in the most shameful 
manner in numerous instances. Provisions were 
shipped to Gen. Lovell's troops, and spies passed to 
and fro in the disguise of steamboat employees, 
traders, &c. : still the good overbalanced the evil 
of this plan. 

The general had invited the attention of the mayor 
to the filthy state of the city, and he and his council 
agreed to have the streets cleaned ; but no such action 
was taken, and he summoned the mayor to know why 
this compact was not kept. He said, *' There are 
plenty of idle men who could be profitably employed 
in that work." 

The mayor said that a force of three hundred men 
had been set to work. But no such force could 
be seen by the general or his soldiers. He there- 
fore resolved to take the matter into his own hands 
at once ; and on the 9th of May he issued an order 
to the effect that the city should employ the poor 
laborers in the work of cleaning the streets, with a 
view both to providing for the wants of the destitute, 
and warding off pestilence. 

This was sent to the City Council, who accepted 
it as a good measure ; and a superintendent on behalf 
of the city was appointed, Col. T. B. Thorpe being- 
named to act for the military authorities. The party 
named by the City Council refused to take the oath 
of allegiance to the United States : hence Col. Thorpe 



HE GIVES EMPLOYMENT TO THE POOR. 89 

had sole charge of this work, which he pushed with 
energy and despatch. 

Mr. Parton tells us that ^' Col. Thorpe's labors 
were of permanent benefit to the city in many ways. 
The Mississippi River is constantly adding new land 
to the city limits ; but this land requires considerable 
labor expended upon it before it is completely res- 
cued from the domain of the river. It is estimated 
that Col. Thorpe's skilfully directed efforts added to 
the city an amount of available land worth one mil- 
lion of dollars." 

Thus Gen. Butler not only gave- relief to the poor 
in a legitimate way, but greatly benefited and per- 
manently enriched the city by his plans of relief. 
His system resulted in more benefit to the city than 
expense, while it cost the United States not a cent. 
Secretary Chase wrote him, ** You are the cheapest 
general we have employed." 

GENERAL BUTLEr's ORIGINAL PLAN FOR RAISING 
MONEY. 

Gen. Butler's plan is fully explained by the follow- 
ing order : — 

Aug. 4, 1862. 

It appears that the need of rehef to the destitute poor of the 
city requires more extended measures and greater outlay than 
have yet been made. 

It becomes a question in justice, Upon whom should this 
burden fall ? 

Clearly, upon those who have brought this great calamity 
upon their fellow-citizens. 

It should not be borne by taxation of the whole municipality, 
because the middling and working men have never been heard 



90 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

at the ballot-box, unawed by threats and unmenaced by ' Thugs' 
and paid assassins of conspirators against peace and good 
order. Besides, more than the vote that was claimed for seces- 
sion have taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. 

The United-States Government does its share when it pro- 
tects, defends, and preserves the people in the enjoyment of 
law, order, and calm quiet. 

Those who have brought upon the city this stagnation of 
business, this desolation of the hearthstone, this starvation of 
the poor and helpless, should, as far as they may be able, 
relieve these distresses. 

There are two classes whom it would seem peculiarly fit 
should at first contribute. First, those individuals and cor- 
porations who have aided the Rebellion with their means ; and, 
second, those who have endeavored to destroy the commercial 
prosperity of the city, upon which the welfare of its inhabitants 
depend. 

It is brought to the knowledge of the commanding general, 
that a subscription of twelve hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
was made by the corporate bodies, business firms, and persons 
whose names are set forth in Schedule " A " annexed to this 
order, and that sum placed in the hands of an illegal body 
known as the " Committee of PubHc Safety," for the treasona- 
ble purpose of defending the city against the Government of 
the United States, under whose humane rule the city of New 
Orleans had enjoyed such unexampled prosperity, that her 
warehouses were filled with fruits of all nations who come to 
share her freedom, to take part in the benefits of her commer- 
cial prosperity, and thus she was made the representative mart 
of the world. 

The stupidity and wastefulness with which this immense 
sum was spent was only equalled by the folly which led to its 
being raised at all. The subscribers to this fund, by this very 
act, betray their treasonable designs, and their ability to pay at 
least a much smaller tax for the relief of their destitute and 
starving neighbors. 

Schedule " B " is a list of cotton-brokers, who, claiming to 



HE GIVES EMPLOYMENT TO THE POOR. QI 

control that great interest in New Orleans, to which she is so 
much indebted for her wealth, published in the newspapers in 
October, 1861, a manifesto deliberately advising the planters 
not to bring their produce to the city ; a measure which brought 
ruin at the same time upon the producer and the city. 

This act sufficiently testifies the malignity of these traitors, 
as well to the Government as to their neighbors ; and it is 
to be regretted that their ability to relieve their fellow-citizens 
is not equal to their facilities for injuring them. 

In taxing both these classes to relieve the suffering poor of 
New Orleans, yea, even though the needy be the starving wives 
and children of those in arms at Richmond and elsewhere 
against the United States, it will be impossible to make a mis- 
take save in having the assessment too easy and the burden 
too light 

It is therefore ordered : — 

1st, That the sums in schedules annexed marked "A " and 
"B," set against the names of the several persons, business 
firms, and corporations herein described, be and hereby are 
assessed upon each respectively. 

2d, That said sums be paid to Lieut. David C. G. Field, 
financial clerk, at his office in the Custom House, on or before 
Monday the nth inst., or that the property of the dehnquent 
be forthwith seized, and sold at public auction to pay the 
amount, with all necessary charges and expenses, or the party 
imprisoned till paid. 

3d, The money raised by this assessment to be a fund for 
the purpose of providing employment and food for the deserv- 
ing poor people of New Orleans. 

[The first schedule embraced ninety-five names, as in the 
following.] 



92 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



SCHEDULE A. 

List of Contributors to the Million and a Quartet Loaft, placed in the Hands 
of t-lie so-called Committee of Public Safety^ for the defence of New Orleans 
against the United States, and of which ^38,000 about had been disbursed. 

Sums subscribed to Sums assessed to 

aid treason against relieve the poor by 

the United States. the United States. 

Abat, Generes, & Co $210,000 $52,500 

Jonathan Montgomery 40,000 10,000 

Thomas Sloo, President Sun Insurance Co. . . 50,000 12,500 

C. C. Gaines 2,000 500 

C. C. Gaines & Co 3,000 750 

[Total amount yielded under this item of assessment was 
$312,716.25.] 

SCHEDULE B. 

List of Cotton-Brokers of New Orleans who published in " The Crescent^'' in 
October last, a Card advising Pla7iters not to send Produce to New Orleans^ 
in order to induce Foreign Intervention in behalf of the Rebelli07i. 

Sums assessed to relieve the starv- 
ing poor by the United States. 

Hewitt, Norton, & Co $500 

West & Villerie 250 

S. E. Belknap 100 

Brander, Chambliss, & Co , . . . 500 

Lewis & Oglesby . loo 

[The sum realized by this assessment was $29,200. 
The effect of this order, No. i^, put at the disposal of Gen. 
Butler, for the purposes named, the sum of $341,916.25.] 



These orders were hailed with joy by the poor, 
and muttered curses from the rich. The first saw 
in them promise of work and wages, hence relief 
from famine ; the latter, the stern necessity of yield- 
ing up some of their hoarded wealth, wrung from 
slave-labor, for the public good. "The True Delta" 
said to these men, •* The poor must be employed and 



HE GIVES EMPLOYMENT TO THE POOR. 93 

fed ; you cannot be permitted to lie on cushioned 
divans, dining on turtle, and sipping choice wines, 
while hungry men and starving women and children 
walk the ever-busy streets in idleness." 

The consuls representing the various European 
governments were all in active sympathy with seces- 
sion, and tJiese threw every possible obstruction in 
Gen. Butler's way. They lent willing ears to rebel 
complaints, and forwarded protests to the Secretary 
of State at Washington. But the general vindicated 
himself most successfully by a letter to the Secre- 
tary of War, closing as follows : — 

"When I took possession of New Orleans I found the city 
nearly on the verge of starvation ; the poor being utterly with- 
out means of procuring what food there was to be had. I 
endeavored to aid the city government in the work of feeding 
the poor ; but I soon found that the very distribution of food 
was a means faithlessly used to encourage the Rebellion. I 
was obliged, therefore, to take the whole matter into my own 
hands. It had become a subject of alarming importance and 
gravity. It became necessary to provide, from some source, 
the funds to procure the food. They could not be raised by 
city taxation in the ordinary form. These taxes were in arrears 
to more than one million of dollars. Besides, it would be unjust 
to tax the loyal citizens and honestly neutral foreigners to pro- 
vide for a state of things brought about by the rebels and dis- 
loyal foreigners, who had conspired together to overthrow the 
authority of the United States, and establish the very result 
which was to be met. 

" Further, in order to have a contribution effective, it must be 
upon those who have wealth to meet it. There seems to be no 
such fit subjects for such taxation as the cotton-brokers who 
had brought the distress upon the city by paralyzing commerce 
and the subscribers to the rebel loan. 



94 LIFF OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

" With these convictions I issued General Order No. 55, 
which will explain itself, and have raised nearly the amount of 
the tax therein set forth. But for what purpose .'' Not a dollar 
has gone in any way to the use of the United States. I am 
now employing one thousand poor laborers, as matter of char- 
ity, upon the streets and wharves of the city, from this fund. I 
am distributing food to preserve from starvation nine thousand 
seven hundred and seven families, containing thirty-two thou- 
sand four hundred souls, daily ; and this at an expense of 
seventy thousand dollars per month. I am sustaining, at an 
expense of two thousand dollars per month, five asylums for 
widows and orphans. I am aiding the charity hospital to the 
extent of five thousand dollars per month. 

" Before their Excellencies, the French and Prussian minis- 
ters, complain of my exactions upon foreigners at New Orleans, 
I desire that they should look at the documents, and consider 
for a moment the facts and figures set forth in this report. 
They will find that out of ten thousand four hundred and ninety 
families who have been fed from the fund, with the raising of 
which they find fault, less than one-tenth are Americans ; nine 
thousand four hundred and eighty are foreigners. Of the thirty- 
two thousand souls, but three thousand are natives. Besides 
the charity at the asylums and hospitals, distributed in about 
the same proportion to foreign and native born ; so that, of an 
expenditure of near eighty thousand dollars per month to em- 
ploy and feed the starving poor of New Orleans, seventy-two 
thousand dollars goes to foreigners, whose compatriots loudly 
complain, and offensively thrust forward their neutrahty, when- 
ever they are called upon to aid their suffering countrymen. 

" I should need no extraordinary taxation to feed the poor of 
New Orleans, if the bellies of the foreigners were as actively 
with the rebels as are the heads of those who claim exemption 
thus far from this taxation, made and used for the purposes 
above set forth, upon the ground of their neutrality ; among 
whom I find Rochereau & Co., the senior partner of which firm 
took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the Confed- 
erate States. I find also the house of Riechard & Co., the senior 



HE GIVES EMPLOYMENT TO THE POOR. 95 

partner of which, Gen. Riechard, is in the rebel army. I find the 
junior partner, Mr. Kruttschmidt, the brother-in-law of Benja- 
min, the rebel secretary of war, using all the funds in his hands 
to purchase arms, and collecting securities of his correspondents 
before they are due to get funds to loan to the rebel authori- 
ties, and now acting Prussian consul here, doing quite as effec- 
tive service to the rebels as his partner in the field. I find 
M. Paesher & Co., bankers, whose clerks and employees 
formed a part of the French Legion, organized to fight the 
United States, and who contributed largely to arm and equip- 
that corps. These are fair specimens of the 7ientrality of the 
foreigners, for whom the Government is called upon to interfere 
to prevent their paying any thing t-oward the Relief Fund for 
their starving countrymen. 

" If the representatives of the foreign governments will feed 
their own starving people, — over whom the only protection they 
extend, so far as I can see, is to tax them all, poor and rich, a 
dollar and a half each for certificates of nationalit}', — I will 
release the foreigners from all the exactions, fines, and imposts 
whatever. 

" I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

" Benjamin F. Butler, 

" Major-General commanding.^'' 

A second assessment for the same amount as the 
first was made on the 9th of December, the first 
having been exhausted. Further detail or comment 
were unnecessary. The reader cannot fail to see the 
justice, as well as the necessity^, of the course pur- 
sued in this matter by Gen. Butler. 



96 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER X. 

GEN. BUTLER AND THE SECESSIONIST WOMEN OF 
NEW ORLEANS. 

PERHAPS no act* of Gen. Butler's life has sub- 
jected him to such severe and unjust criticism 
as the following order : — 

Headquarters Department of the Gulf, 
New Orleans, May 15, 1862. 
General Order No. 28 : 

As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been 
subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves 
ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non- 
interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered, that here- 
after, when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, 
insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United 
States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a 
woman of the town plying her avocation. 

By command of 

Major-General Butler. 
George C. Strong, A. A. G., Chief of Staff. 

The occasion, necessity, and full justification of 
this order, was found in the fact that the women of 
New Orleans, notably the more aristocratic, adopted 
every device possible to feminine ingenuity and spite, 
to flaunt their rebel sentiments in the faces of the 
officers and soldiers of the United States, and to in- 



GEN. BUTLER AND SECESSIONIST WOMEN. 9/ 

suit them openly on the street and in the public con- 
veyances. They wore rebel flags upon their bonnets. 
They would pull their skirts away when passing sol- 
diers, as though to avoid contamination by contact 
with them. They would sneer at them, and use in- 
sulting epithets, and, in some instances, spit in their 
faces on the street. These outrages were not occa- 
sional, but constant and almost universal ; the officers 
and soldiers, on their part, treating all the people well, 
and the women with deferential politeness, and taking 
no apparent notice of, and in no case resenting, the 
insults offered. They chafed under this treatment, 
however, and complained daily to the general, of 
insults which they as gentlemen could not resent, 
nor as sensitive men endure with patience. ■ The 
general resolved to protect his men and these women 
at the same time, and the above order was the plan 
adopted to do it ; and the wisdom of it is sustained 
by its entire success. 

It has been charged, that in this order Gen. Butler 
insulted the women of New Orleans, by classing the 
whole of them as women of the town ; but no just 
critic can di-aw any such conclusion from the lan- 
guage of the document in question. Only those who 
should choose to act like women of the town could be 
treated as such. How do women of the town act ? 
Why, they accost men on the street with whom they 
have no acquaintance, or they stare at them, or make 
signs designed to attract their attention, &c. ; and in 
all cities of civilized countries women who do such 
things are liable to be arrested, committed to prison, 
and fined. 



98 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

No such punishment was meted out to the women 
of New Orleans under this order, for the excellent 
reason that from the day of its publication they all 
comported themselves as became virtuous and well- 
bred ladies. It was feared by some, even of the gen- 
eral's staff, that the order might be misconstrued by 
some of the soldiers, who might make it the pretext 
for insulting women whom they might meet ; but no 
instance of such misunderstanding or abuse of the 
order occurred. On the contrary, the order produced 
good fruits only; and, as we are to judge by fruits, we 
cannot but commend most fully Gen. Butler's cele- 
brated "Woman Order." 

It was not popular in rebel circles, either South, 
North, or in Europe. The mayor of New Orleans 
was highly indignant. He wrote on the i6th of May 
a most inflammatory and offensive letter to Gen. 
Butler, saying, "As chief magistrate of this city I 
cannot allow such an order published without my 
protest. The passions of our people already aroused, 
this must exasperate them beyond control ; and I will 
not undertake to be responsible for the peace of the 
city while such an edict remains in force." 

Gen. Butler took him at his word. He having 
said he would not be responsible for the order of the 
city, the following reply was returned : — 

"John T. Monroe, late mayor o£ New Orleans, is hereby 
relieved from all responsibility for the peace of the city, and 
suspended from any official functions, and committed to Fort 
Jackson until further orders. B. F. Butler, 

" Major-General commanding^!'* 



GEN. BUTLER AND SECESSIONIST WOMEN. 99 

The mayor's bravado oozed out at once ; and he 
begged not to be sent to prison, declaring that he had 
no intention of insulting the general. Gen. Butler 
explained his order to him, and he professed himself 
entirely satisfied with it. He at once asked to with- 
draw his letter ; and the general wrote at the foot of 
it, " This communication having been sent under a 
mistake of fact, and being improper in language, I 
desire to apologize for and withdraw it." This the 
mayor signed, and was relieved from arrest. 

The very next day, having been bulldozed by his 
rebel friends, he wrote to recall his recantation. 

In reply Gen. Butler wrote : — 

" There can be, there has been, no room for misunderstand- 
ing of General Order No. 28. No lady will take any notice of 
a strange gentleman in such form as to attract attention. Com- 
mon women do. 

" Therefore, whatever woman, lady, or mistress, gentle or 
simple, who by gesture, look, or word insults, shows contempt 
for, thus attracting to herself the notice of, my officers or sol- 
diers, will be deemed to act as becomes her vocation of common 
woman, and will be liable to be treated accordingly. 

" I shall not, as I have not abated, a single word of that 
order: it was well considered. If obeyed, it will protect the 
true and modest woman from all possible insult : the others will 
take care of themselves. 

" You can publish your letter if you publish this note and 
your apology. B. F. Butler, 

" Major-General eoinmanding!''' 

Again the mayor wilted ; and again, under the 
influence of rebel counsellors, he stiffened up. Fi- 
nally, on the invitation of Gen. Butler, the mayor 



lOO LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, 

and the chief officers of the city had a conference 
with the general at his office. The general delivered 
a lecture to them, recounting the broken promises 
and disloyal conduct of the mayor and council, as 
well as the leading citizens. 

Then addressing them individually he asked, " Do 
you believe the mayor's letter insulting ? Do you aid 
and abet the mayor ? Do you sustain the mayor in 
reiterating the letter ? " 

The chief of police. Judge Kennedy, and Mr. Dun- 
can answered in the affirmative. The general then 
ordered these three gentlemen and the mayor com- 
mitted to Fort Jackson. 

Gen. Butler immediately took control of the city 
government by proclamation, organizing a police- 
force, and restoring order. 



THE EXECUTION OF W. B. MUMFORD. lOI 



CHAPTER XL 

THE EXECUTION BY HANGING OF W. B. MUMFORD. 

IN the early part of the war Gen. Dix made himself 
famous by his celebrated order, *' If any man pulls 
down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." 
The reader remembers the occurrence, already re- 
lated, of pulling down the flag which Capt. Farragut 
had ordered raised over the United-States Mint. The 
man who did this was William B. Mumford, a pro- 
fessional gambler of New Orleans. His act was of 
treasonable character ; but it is not probable he 
would have been arrested and tried for it if he had 
afterwards behaved himself in a seemly manner. 
But he was one of the most troublesome mob-leaders 
in the city. He was almost daily seen on the street, 
venting rebel sentiments, and boasting of his exploit 
in tearing down and insulting the old flag. So bold 
did he become, that he would repeat the story in 
front of Gen. Butler's headquarters, and dare the 
Lincoln hirelings to arrest him. While in the act of 
repeating this challenge one day, he was arrested, 
and taken to prison. His case having been thus 
brought to the special attention of the provost-mar- 



I02 LIFE OF BENJAMJN F. BUTLER. 

shal and provost-judg'e, he was put on trial ; and, 
being found guilty, he was sentenced to be hung. 

During the trial he treated the whole matter with 
contempt ; and after he was condemned he and his 
friends boldly proclaimed that Gen. Butler would not 
dare to sign the order for his execution, as it would 
cost him his life to do so. 

They were mistaken in their man. Gen. Butler 
makes no ostentatious display of his courage, but he 
is one of the very last to be frightened from the dis- 
charge of duty by threats of personal violence. 

The general, believing his sentence just, and that 
his execution would have a healthy influence upon his 
traitor associates and the whole city, promptly signed 
his death-warrant, and fixed a day for its execution, 
naming Saturday, June the /th. 

About this time six men who had broken their 
parole by joining a secret rebel organization, known 
as the Monroe Guard, in honor of the mayor, were 
arrested while in the act of stealing out of the city 
to join Gen. Lovell's command. These were tried, 
and condemned to be. shot. This sentence the gene- 
ral also indorsed. Hence there were seven men 
under sentence of death in New Orleans at the same 
time. 

Although he had not acted as judge, hence to sen- 
tence them was not his act, yet they could not be put 
to death without his order ; and, even after this had 
been given, the power to pardon still remained with 
him. 

Gen. Butler is a man of firmness and decision : 



THE EXECUTION OF W. B. MUMFORD. IO3 

but he is also a man of fine sensibilities and tender 
sympathies, his maligners to the contrary notwith- 
standing. These seven human lives weighed down 
his heart to so great an extent that he could neither 
eat nor sleep with any degree of comfort. To add 
to his embarrassment, Mumford's wife, his own wife, 
the venerable and reverend Dr. Mercer, and others, 
besought him, with prayers and tears, to pardon this 
wretched man. But he remained firm. Not but 
that he earnestly desired to grant the pardon ; but 
the public good, aye, the safety of the city, demanded 
that an example be made of this man. He believed, 
and still believes, that if Mumford should be par- 
doned it would be construed as an act of cowardice 
on his part, and the mob-element Mumford repre- 
sented would have become uncontrollable save by 
grape and canister. It was simply a question whether 
one bad man should meet the fate his crimes de- 
served, or hundreds, perhaps thousands, should be 
slain in the streets, the good and the bad together. 

The other six men were worthy of death, accord- 
ing to the laws of war ; but possibly one victim would 
suffice. Hence,- when a statement came to the gen- 
eral, that one of the poor fellows had said that he did 
not understand about this paroling, that it was a mat- 
ter for officers and gentlemen, — **We are not officers 
nor gentlemen," — he promptly commuted their sen- 
tence to imprisonment on Ship Island during the 
pleasure of the President. He was doubtless influ- 
enced toward this action by the earnest petition of 
Hon. T.*J. Durant, then a prominent citizen of New 



I04 T.TFE OF BKNJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Orleans, a pronounced Union-man, and now a distin- 
guished member of the bar at Washington City, and 
others of influence ; but the matter that touched his 
heart in its most tender place was the words of the 
poor fellow who unconsciously drew such a sharp 
distinction between the intelligent traitors and their 
deluded victims, the common rebel soldiers. 

Mumford was hung on the 7th of June, in the 
presence of an immense crowd ; and the city felt 
safer from that hour. 

Gen. Butler had received numerous letters threat- 
ening him with assassination unless he pardoned 
Mumford ; but no attempt of the sort occurred. 
On the contrary, his life was much safer after than 
before the execution. 



IN THE ROLE OF A DIPLOMAT. IO5 



CHAPTER XII. 

GEN. BUTLER IN THE ROLE OF A DIPLOMAT. HE 

PROVES MORE THAN A MATCH FOR THE FOREIGN 
CONSULS. 

BEING a great commercial city, New Orleans was 
honored with the permanent presence of consul- 
generals from the leading nations of the world ; and 
during the war these, without exception, sympathized 
with the rebel cause, and most if not all of them had 
taken the oath of allegiance to the Southern Con- 
federacy in 1 86 1. This act of theirs was without 
excuse ; they being foreigners, and accredited repre- 
sentatives of their respective governments to the 
Government of the United States. Being in sympa- 
thy with the rebels, -they opposed every measure of 
Gen. Butler ; and, being foreign officials, they claimed 
exemption from the rules and laws governing citi- 
zens : hence they were a very troublesome set of fel- 
lows. 

There was a large foreign population in the city ; 
and these consuls assumed the duty of protecting 
these also from the action of such laws as Gen. 
Butler ordained for the government of the city. 



I06 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Had the commanding general been free to act with- 
out fear of interference from the State Department, 
he could have managed these obstreperous and offi- 
cious officials without much difficulty ; but they were 
constantly appealing to their ministers at Washing- 
ton, who in turn laid their grievances before Secre- 
tary Seward, who, it is well known, was nothing if 
not a diplomat, — a suave and genial, not to say 
timid, diplomat, with not one element of the soldier 
in his make-up. 

Gen. Butler is both a diplomat and a general, a 
statesman and a soldier. He understood the rights 
and duties of these foreign consuls, and respected 
them ; and he also understood the rights of his own 
Government, and was resolved to maintain them 
against domestic foes and foreign enemies. 

An organization known as the British Guard, com- 
posed of wealthy Englishmen, sent their arms' and 
equipments to Gen. Beauregard ; on learning which 
fact. Gen. Butler ordered them to leave the city within 
twenty-four hours, on pain of imprisonment in Fort 
Jackson as dangerous foes. 

The British consul, Mr. Coppell, protested. 

The general replied, that, as they had thought it 
important that Gen. Beauregard should have sixty 
more uniforms and guns, he preferred that he should 
have these faithless and dangerous men, to their re- 
maining in the city as a disturbing element. He 
therefore stood by his order ; and with the exception 
of the captain and one man, who were sent to prison, 
the legion fled the city. 



,, XHE K6.E OF A DIPLOMAT. 

^^^^^^-^^''''YZt':lt^^r.^^r at Mobile on 
■ ^ the oty ^-^'^X7L" which Gen. Butler had 
the steamer "Dick Keys, .he city. For this 

permitted to bring P---^';: 1°, *„.' '^he French 
L was arrested -^ ^nt ° Pns^_ ^^^^^^^ ^^.^_ ,^ 

consul P-^-^'^i' 7'secre ary Seward, through the 
laid the matter before Secret y .^^^^^^ ^^ 

fZ".^eSe:"aty,andhung,as he richly 

nr ati.en. Ban. -----^If ^ertfh 

thousand dollars in -^-^^^^ f ^^ty and, on learning 
consul on the ^-ender of he c^y ^^^ ^^ 

t^XSr-::^^^:^^^ . from bemg con. 

dollars was found in possess^n of ^aW^^ ^^^_^ ^^^^ 
Frenchman by the name o ^^.^^^^ 

seized and held for ^^e -me ea - ^^ ^^.^^ ^^.^^ 

object in both these «- ^^^ J,, the custody of 

belonged to rebel eorpo aUons ^^^^^^ ^^ 

foreign consuls for Pjte^to"^;^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^,^^^. 

shipped to the Confederate au ^^^^ ^^ 

fore property eonfiscat , but Gen ^^ ^.^ ^^^^^^_ 

i„ a safe place ^-^^l^'^'^'J^ consuls protested, 
ment. The Dutch and French ^^^^^^^ ^^ 

and Reverdy Johnson -as ^ent^to^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^_^ 
investigate the matter ^^^^^ ^^^1,^,3 

Johnson turned a willing ear 



I08 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

and other interested parties, and a deaf ear to Gen. 
Butler ; and this immense sum of fifteen hundred 
thousand dollars was turned over to the enemies of 
the Government, and ultimately found its way into 
the Confederate treasury, and was used to pay for 
foreign arms and equipments with which to fight the 
Government of the United States. 

Mr. Johnson decided various other cases, brought 
before him by rebel merchants and others, and all in 
their favor ; and all these decisions were made 
against the earnest protest of Gen. Butler, sustained 
by well-established facts and legal arguments, over- 
whelmingly convincing to a mind free from preju- 
dice. 

Among the remarkable facts connected with Gen. 
Butler's career at New Orleans, none testify to his 
greatness, his wisdom in planning, and his energy in 
execution, more prominently than the fact that not a 
case of yellow-fever occurred in the city during the 
season of 1862. This fearful disease raged in Nassau, 
Havana, and other neighboring ports ; but although 
New Orleans had formerly been one of its favorite 
haunts, and notwithstanding the fact that the city 
had twenty thousand unacclimated people in it, it 
did not lose a life from yellow-fever during the time 
Gen. Butler was in command. This wonderful ex- 
emption from the fell pestilence was due to his 
successful efforts to have the city cleaned, and his 
excellent quarantine, which prevented both the spon- 
taneous generation and the importation of the dis- 
ease-germs. 



IN THE ROLE OF A DIPLOMAT. ICQ 

The foes of the general and of the Government 
predicted that the yellow-fever would relieve them of 
his presence, and of the presence of a large portion 
of the Northern troops, before the summer should 
close : hence they were indignant at his determined 
purpose and successful efforts to ward it off. The 
foreign consuls complained of his strict quarantine, 
system, and laid their complaints before the Secretary 
of State. Gen. Butler replied in his characteristically 
able and vigorous manner, defending himself most 
. - perfectly by facts that were incontrovertible. He 
closed by saying, — 

" Allow me to repeat, that with the blessing of God, to whom 
j our most devout thanks are duly due for his goodness, the fell 

scourge, the yellow-fever, has been kept from my command 
( and the city of New Orleans, till now, when all danger is past, 

' by the firm administration of sanitary and quarantine regula- 

I tions, in spite of complaints and difficulties ; and, if my acts 



j need it, I point to the results as an unanswerable vindication." 



no LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GEN. BUTLER MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFI- 
DENCE AND PROSPERITY THROUGHOUT THE STATE. 

GEN. BUTLER is a strict constructionist. He 
believes with all his heart in the strictest obedi- 
ence to law. In times of peace, the common and 
civil law are his sufficient guides : in a state of war, 
•the rules of war and the orders of his superiors 
govern his actions. He found himself, however, now 
in an anomalous position ; and he felt at liberty to act 
upon his own judgment, and the dictates of common 
sense, humanity, and patriotism: He was engaged in 
putting down an insurrection, not fighting a foreign 
foe. He believed that so soon as the leaders of the 
Rebellion should be vanquished or captured, the peo- 
ple would see the folly and sin of secession, and re- 
turn to their loyalty to the Government which had so 
justly and benignly protected their rights, and fostered 
their interests. Holding these views, and having con- 
quered New Orleans and a good portion of Louisi- 
ana, he not only resolved upon such measures as he 
deemed necessary to the maintenance of the authority 
of the United States over any who might be still 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. 1 1 1 

rebelliously disposed, but to restore as far as possi- 
ble the conditions of peace and the elements of pros- 
perity. 

On the 4th of May, 1862, he issued the following 
address to the people : — 

" The commanding general of the department having been 
informed that rebellious, lying, and desperate men have repre- 
sented, and are now representing, to the honest planters and 
good people of the State of Louisiana, that the United-States 
Government, by its forces, have come here to confiscate and 
destroy their crop of cotton and sugar, it is hereby ordered to 
be made known by publication in all the newspapers of this 
city, that all cargoes of cotton and sugar shall have safe con- 
duct of the forces of the United States; and the boats bringing 
them from beyond the lines of the United-States forces may be 
allowed to return in safety, after a reasonable delay, if their 
owners so desire, provided they bring no passengers except the 
owners and managers of said boats and of the projDerty so con- 
veyed, and no other merchandise except provisions, of which 
such boats are requested to bring a full supply, for the benefit 
of the poor of this city." 

He not only authorized all merchants and other 
tradesmen of the city to re-open their places of busi- 
ness, and continue to carry on their regular trade ; 
but those who refused were compelled to do so, on 
penalty of fine. The currency of the city was. in a 
bad condition ; the banks having suspended specie- 
payments six months or more before, and adopted 
the Confederate currency as the only circulating 
medium except shinplasters issued by tradesmen, car- 
tickets, &c. 

The capture of the city sent Confederate notes 



I 12 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

down seventy per cent ; but, as they constituted the 
bulk of the currency, they continued to circulate by 
permission of Gen. Butler, and the consent of the 
people, for some weeks. It was his fixed purpose, 
however, to reconstruct the financial system as soon 
as it could be done without violence or injustice. 
The banks had suspended specie -payment, and also 
stopped emitting their own bills, in September, 1861, 
and had sent a large part of their gold and silver 
coin to the secretary of the rebel treasury, who fur- 
nished Confederate currency instead. Gen. Butler, 
on learning these facts, resolved that these banks 
should restore to the people the same currency, gold, 
silver, and bank-notes, formerly in use ; and as the 
worthless Confederate notes had been forced upon 
the people, in place of their former currency, by the 
banks, he thought it but just, that whatever loss 
might occur, the banks, and not the people, should 
sustain ; and on the i6th of May he issued the fol- 
lowing order : — 

" I. It is hereb^'- ordered that neither the city of New Orleans, 
nor the banks thereof, exchange their notes, bills, or oblii;ations 
for Confederate notes, bills, or bonds, nor issue any bill, note, 
or obligation payable in Confederate notes. - 

" II. On the twenty-seventh day of May inst., all circnlition 
of, or trade in, Confederate notes and bills will cease within this 
department; and all sales or transfers of property made on or 
after that day, in consideration of such notes or bills, directly 
or indirectly, will be void, and the property confiscated to the 
United States, one-fourth thereof to go to the informer. 

"B. F. Butler." 

This threw the bankers into a panic ; and they 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. IT3 

resolved to unload their Confederate currency before 
the 27th, thus throwing the loss involved by their 
own former action upon the innocent people. 

The papers of the next day contained announce- 
ments from the various banks, of which the following 
is a sample : — 

" All persons having deposited Confederate notes in this 
banking-house are notified to withdraw them before the 27th 
inst. Such balances as may not be withdrawn will be con- 
sidered at the risk of the owners." 

As Mr. Parton, in his " Butler in New Orleans," 
justly says, — 

" The banks had introduced this worthless currency, had 
grown rich upon it, and now determined to throw its loss upon 
their innocent victims, — the people. What rendered the course 
of the banks the more exasperating was the fact, that a wealthy 
corporation, professing entire faith in the ultimate triumph of 
the Confederacy, could afford to hold its paper, while a poor 
trader would be ruined by the suspension of his little capital." 

Gen. Butler read these advertisements as he sipped 
his coffee on the morning they appeared, and imme- 
diately wrote the following : — 

New Orleans, May 19, 1862. 
General Order No. 30 : 

It is represented to the commanding general that great dis- 
tress, privation, hunger, and even starvation, have been brought 
upon the people of New Orleans and vicinage by the course 
taken by the' banks and dealers in currency. 

He has been urged to take measures to provide, as far as 
may be, for the relief of the citizens, so that the loss may fall, 
at least, on those who have caused and ought to bear it. 

The general sees with regret that the banks and bankers 



114 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

causelessly suspended specie-payments in September last, in 
contravention of the laws of the State and of the United 
States. 

Having done so, they introduced Confederate notes as cur- 
rency, which they bought at a discount, in place of their own 
bills, receiving them on deposit, paying them out for their dis- 
counts, and collecting their customers' notes and drafts in them 
as money, sometimes even against their will, thus giving these 
notes credit and a wide general circulation ; so that they were 
substituted in the hands of the middling-men, the poor and 
unwary, as currency, in place of that provided by the Constitu- 
tion and laws of the country, or of any valuable equivalent. 

The banks and bankers now endeavor to take advantage of 
the re-establishment of the authority of the United States to 
throw the depreciation and loss from this worthless stuff of 
their creation and fostering upon their creditors, depositors, and 
bill-holders. 

They refuse to receive these bills, while they pay them over 
their counters. 

They require their depositors to take them. 

They change the obhgation of contracts by stamping their 
bills, " Redeemable in Confederate notes." 

They have invested the savings of labor and the pittance of 
the widow in this paper. 

They sent away or hid their specie, so that the people could 
have nothing but these notes, which they now depreciate, with 
which to buy bread. 

All other property has become nearly valueless from the 
calamities of this iniquitous and unjust war begun by rebelHous 
guns turned on the flag of our prosperous and happy country 
floating over Fort Sumter. Saved from the general ruin by a 
system of financiering, bank-stocks alone are now selling at 
great premiums in the market, while the stockholders have 
received large dividends. 

To equalize, as far as may be, this general loss ; to have it 
fall, at least in part, where it ought to lie ; to enable the people 
of this city and vicinage to have a currency which 'shall at least 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. II5 

be a semblance to that which the wisdom of the Constitution 
provides for all citizens of the United States, — it is there- 
fore 

Ordered^ I. That the several incorporated banks pay out no 
more Confederate notes to their depositors or creditors ; but 
that all depositors be paid in the bills of the bank, United States 
treasury notes, gold, or silver. 

II. That all private bankers receiving deposits pay out to 
their depositors only the current bills of the city banks, or 
United-States treasury notes, gold, or silver. 

III. That the savings banks pay to their depositors or credit- 
ors only gold, silver, or United-States treasury notes, current 
bills of city banks, or their own bills, to an amount not exceed- 
ing one-third of their deposits, and of denomination not less 
than one dollar, which they are authorized to issue, and for the 
redemption of which their assets shall be held liable. 

IV. The incorporated banks are authorized to issue bills of 
a less denomination than five dollars, but not less than one dol- 
lar, any thing in their charters to the contrary notwithstanding; 
and are authorized to receive Confederate notes for any of their 
bills until the twenty-seventh day of May inst. 

V. That all persons and firms having issued small notes, or 
" shinplasters " so called, are required to redeem them on pres- 
entation at their places of business, between the hours of nine 
A.M. and three p.m., either in gold, silver, United-States treas- 
ury notes, or current bills of city banks, under penalty of con- 
fiscation of their property, and sale thereof, for the purpose of 
redemption of the notes so issued, or imprisonment for a term 
at hard labor. 

VI. Private bankers may issue notes of denomina^tions not 
less than one dollar, nor more than ten dollars, to two-thirds of 
the amount of specie which they show to a commissioner 
appointed from these headquarters, in their vaults, actually kept 
there for the purpose of redemption of such notes. 

Mr. Parton tells us that ''The relief afforded by 
the publication of this order was such that, as a 



Il6 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

secessionist remarked to a member of the general's 
staff, it was equivalent to a re-enforcement of twenty 
thousand men to the Union army ; and Union men 
say that nothing but the continual bad news from 
McClellan's army prevented this measure from caus- 
ing an open and general manifestation of Union feel- 
ing. But as it was thought probable that the city 
would again, and soon, pass into the hands of the 
rebels, the people feared to commit themselves to a 
course that would invite the vengeance of the return- 
ing Confederates." 

One bank protested, but, the general remaining 
firm, it was obliged to submit with the best grace it 
could ; and in a very short period the city had as 
sound a currency as New York or Boston, and com- 
merce revived at once, — a remarkable illustration of 
Gen. Butler's financial ability. It is said that the 
bankers of New Orleans expressed great surprise at 
finding a Yankee lawyer and volunteer general as 
much at home in the domain of finance as ,if he had 
spent his whole life in a bank. Having restored a 
sound currency, the general turned his great powers 
of intellect in favor of a general restoration of the 
commerce of th'e city and the agriculture of the 
State. He had brought his army to New Orleans on 
board of chartered transport-ships. These he must 
return in ballast ; and to ballast with sand from Ship 
Island would cost a large sum. For example : the 
steamer ** Mississippi " cost the Government fifteen 
hundred dollars per day ; to bring two hundred and 
fifty tons of sand in small boats, and load it in, would 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. II/ 

take ten days, and to discharge it in New York, four 
more : fourteen days, at fifteen hundred dollars per 
day, is twenty-one thousand dollars. He could bal- 
last with sugar, and make a large profit, and besides 
increase the revenues of the merchants of New 
Orleans and the planters of Louisiana, as well as of 
the United States. A briUiant idea! 

He had very little government money ; so he 
pledged his private credit for a hundred thousand 
dollars, and loaned it to the Government to buy 
sugar with which to load these ships. This transac- 
tion was very profitable to the Government ; while all 
Gen. Butler received in the way of reward was a large 
dividend of abuse and slander, which grew out of the 
fact that other people judged him by themselves. 
The owners of the ships, though receiving enormous 
rental for their vessels, insisted on being paid freights 
on this sugar, which the general justly refused ; and, 
failing in their efforts to rob the Government, 
through the integrity of Gen. Butler, who opposed 
their claims, they accused him, by insinuation and 
hint only, of making money on this sugar operation. 
It is possible they thought that in some way he was 
re-imbursed for the use of his money; but the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury knew he did not make a dollar. 
It has been stated as a fact by half the newspapers 
of the country, and repeated by his political oppo- 
nents thousands of times, that Gen. Butler got rich 
while in New Orleans, by speculating in sugar and 
cotton. The author, after thorough investigation, is 
prepared to state positively, and does so state, that 



Il8 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

the charge is absolutely false in every part and par- 
ticular. Not that these editors and politicians, and 
even preachers, all mean to be guilty of wilful lying. 
Some of them do ; but they gladly believe a lie which 
sounds reasonable, and suits their purpose, — that of 
injuring the man they envy or fear. Gen. Butler's 
only cotton transaction was as follows : — 

" The navy captured a small schooner laden with cotton. 
' I needed,' says the general, ' the schooner as a lighter, and 
took her from the navy. What should be done with the cotton ? 
A transport was going home empty : it would cost nothing 
to transport it. To whom should I send it.^ To my quarter- 
master at Boston ? But I supposed him on the way here. 
Owing to the delays of the expedition, I found all the quarter- 
masters, men, and artisans on the island, whose services were 
indispensable, almost in a state of mutiny for want of pay. 
There was not a dollar of government funds on the island. I 
had but seventy-five dollars of my own. The sutler had money 
he would loan on my draft on my private banker. I borrowed 
on such draft about four thousand dollars, quite equal to the 
value of the cotton, as I received it ; and with the money I 
paid the government debts to the laborers, so that their wives 
and children would not starve. In order that my draft should 
be paid, I sent the cotton to my correspondent at Boston, with 
directions to sell it, pay my draft out of the proceeds, and hold 
the rest, if any, subject to my order, so that, upon the account 
stated, I might settle with the Government. What was done ? 
The Government seized the cotton, without a word of explana- 
tion to me, kept it until it had dejDreciated ten per cent, and 
allowed my draft to be dishonored ; and it had to be paid out 
of the little fund I had left at home for the support of my chil- 
dren in my absence." 

When the history of the cotton, and of the trans- 
actions connected with it, reached the Government, 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. I I9 

the money Gen. Butler had spent was refunded to 
him, with an apology for the bad treatment he had 
received. 

It will be seen that the sole object in both transac- 
tions was to serve the Government, and promote the 
interests of others, — the planters in the one case, 
and the employees in the other ; and these were the 
only instances of his having any connection with 
such matters. 

It was to be expected that secessionists and seces- 
sion organs. North and South, would denounce and 
slander an ofihcer so able and active as Gen. Butler ; 
and they did. His taking possession of and occupy- 
ing the residence of Gen. Twiggs furnished an 
excuse for starting on its rounds the now notorious 
but absurd story that he stole the spoons and other 
articles of silver plate which he found there. The 
author asked Gen. Butler for a statement in resrard 
to the plate found in the Twiggs mansion. He 
said, — 

'• On moving into the residence of Gen. Twiggs I found no 
plate ; but a few days later one of the general's former servants 
informed me that a box_ of valuables was buried beneath the 
floor of a cellar. This I ordered dug up. I found with this 
box three elegant swords which had been presented to Gen. 
Twiggs in recognition of his public services in the Mexican 
war, with a lot of silver plate. The swords I forwarded to the 
President, with a recommendation that one of them be hung in 
the Patent Office, one in West Point Academy, and the other 
be presented to some officer of the army for distinguished 
services. 

" The President adopted my recommendation, and laid it 
before Congress, where it rests still. The swords were still at 



I20 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

the White House after Mr. Johnson became President ; but at 
my request I was permitted to deposit them in a treasury- 
vault for safe keeping. The silver plate I ordered put back 
on to the sideboard ; and during my residence there I used it 
as I did other ware and furniture ; and on surrendering the 
command to my successor, Gen. Banks, I turned it over to him, 
taking the receipt of his quartermaster for it. I hear that it sub- 
sequently disappeared in some mysterious v/ay, but I have no 
means of knowing who got it. Some time after the war a daugh- 
ter of Gen. Twiggs called upon me in Washington, accompanied 
by Gen. Garfield, to inquire as to the disposal of her father's 
swords. I told her that the swords were in one of the vaults of 
the Treasury Building; that there were two keys to the box con- 
taining them, one of which was in the possession of the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, and the other in my possession. Seeing 
no reason why she should not now have these swords, I gave her 
a letter to the Secretary, recommending that they be returned 
to the family through her. It was not done, however; and the 
swords are still where I deposited them, in the treasury. I 
said to Miss Twiggs, 'Why don't you ask about the family 
plate ? I suppose you think I took that, and I don't blame you 
for thinking so ; but I am glad of this opportunity to relieve 
myself from that suspicion,' I then told her of the voucher 
of Gen. Banks, covering, among other things, this lost plate. 
That [said the general] is all I know about the spoon story, 
except that it was started in the Virginia legislature by one 
Daniels, whom I had punished for subornation of perjury, a 
secessionist member of that body, who' was afterwards appoint- 
ed by Johnson to a customs office in Norfolk, defaulted, and 
ran away." 

Gen. Butler could not revive the trade of New 
Orleans with the interior of the State very greatly, 
for the reason, that, acting on the advice of fiery rebel 
leaders, the planters had destroyed most of their cot- 
ton to prevent its falling into the general's hands. 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. 121 

But his efforts proved his good intentions, and had 
great influence in restoring confidence in and respect 
for the Government he represented ; and all seemed 
going well, till the news of the disasters to our forces 
in Virginia raised the hopes of the rebels that it 
would be but a short time before New Orleans would 
again be under Confederate rule. As this impression 
strensfthened under the influence of the continued 
bad news from Washington and Richmond, the mob 
element again asserted itself. On the loth of July 
an alarming riot occurred. A woman not only dis- 
played a secession badge on the street near the 
general's headquarters, but used insulting language 
toward a soldier, evidently for the purpose of provok- 
ing an attempt to arrest her ; and when a policeman 
took her in charge, she appealed to the Southern 
chivalry for protection, in a manner so dramatic, 
that an attack was at once made upon the officer by 
the mob. Clubs were used freely, and a pistol was 
fired. The policeman was knocked down, and a 
soldier wounded. A military officer fired on the 
assassin who shot the soldier, when at least one hun- 
dred returned rebel soldiers joined the mob ; and, but 
for the courage and firmness of the police and Union 
soldiers present, a terrible tragedy would undoubt- 
edly have occurred, and the riot would have become 
general throughout the city, which was evidently the 
purpose of this woman and her allies. She and 
some of her chief supporters were taken before Gen. 
Shepley, who sent her to Gen. Butler. The general 
reco;2:nized her as the wife, or mistress, of a notorious 



122 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

gambler, then in Fort Jackson for a similar offence ; 
and he sent her there to keep him company. 

A few days subsequently, the funeral procession 
accompanying the body of the gallant Lieut. De Kay 
was insulted by rebel women ; and Mrs. Philips, wife 
of Philip Philips, well known at Washington as a 
prominent favorite at the White House during Bu- 
chanan's administration, and who had been banished 
from the capital for aiding the rebels early in the 
war, was arrested and imprisoned. She was released 
after a few weeks, by order of Gen. Butler, on her 
promise to behave herself in a proper manner hence- 
forth. 

But to record all the incidents connected with 
Gen. Butler's career at New Orleans would require 
many volumes : a few only can be given in this brief 
history, enough to show that his rule was vigorous, 
humane, patriotic, just, and wise, hence successful. 

That the mailed hand of this great chieftain rested 
upon Southern men and women with such fearful 
power, was due to the fact that they were in rebellion 
against the Government, and he was putting down 
rebellion. He did not spare his own men when they 
violated the law, as the following incident clearly 
shows. 

Complaints reached the general on the I2th of 
June, that a party of men, bearing a pretended order 
from him, had robbed a house on Toulouse Street, 
which they had entered under pretence of searching 
for concealed arms. He took prompt measures for 
their detection and arrest ; and on the same day four 



MAKES AN EFFORT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE. 1 23 

men were arrested, and brought before him. He 
had an indistinct recollection of one* of them, and 
asked, "Where have I seen you ?" 

" In Boston." 

"Where in Boston ? " 

"In the municipal court." 

" For what offence were you before that court } " 

"Burglary." 

" What regiment did you join ? " 

"The Thirtieth Massachusetts.'" 

" Why are you not with your regiment ^ " 

"I was discharged." 

"What for.?" 

"Disease." 

" Well, you ought to be hanged ; for you have 
robbed before, and been convicted." 

'' DontdiO it, general, and I'll tell you all about it." 

He said he was a member of a band organized 
for plundering houses. Two others confessed their 
guilt, and three further arrests were made on the 
next day. After a fair trial, Lieut. William M. Clary, 
late second officer of the United-States steam trans- 
port " Saxon," Stanislaus Roy of New Orleans, 
George William Craig, late first officer of " The City 
of New York," Frank Newton, late private of the 
Thirteenth Connecticut Volunteers, and Theodore 
Lieb of New Orleans, were convicted ; and on the 
i6th of June, Craig, Newton, Clary, and Roy were 
hung ; while Lieb, in consequence of his extreme 
youth, he being but eighteen, was sent to prison 
during the pleasure of the President. 



124 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

*' The effect of this," says Mr. Parton, " was most 
salutary upon ' the minds of both j^arties in New 
Orleans." It settled the fact that Gen. Butler was 
a just man, who would protect the righteous, and 
punish the iniquitous, whether friend or foe, as the 
terms were then understood ; though 'Gen. Butler 
knew no foes but those in open rebellion against the 
Governrhent, nor friends save those who obeyed its 
just laws. 



TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 125 



CHAPTER XIV. 

TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. THE PEOPLE OF 

NEW ORLEANS REQUIRED TO DEFINE THEIR POSI- 
TION. MORE TROUBLE WITH THE CONSULS, ETC. 

ON the loth of June, Gen. Butler issued General 
Order No. 41, requiring all civil officers and 
attorneys to take the oath of allegiance as a condition 
precedent to their continuing to exercise their respec- 
tive functions. All citizens who might desire to 
receive the protection of the Government (except 
mere protection from personal violence), or any favor, 
privilege, passport, &c., or to have money paid them, 
or property delivered to them, must take the oath of 
allegiance. 

All foreigners claiming protection or favors from 
the United States were required to swear to do no 
act, or conceal, or consent to any act that should aid 
or comfort, any of the enemies or opposers of the 
United States, while their respective governments 
remained at peace with the United States. 

This order aroused the ire of the foreign consuls, 
as well as the domestic traitors. " The Delta " hu- 
morously said, — - 



126 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

" If Gen. Butler rides up street, the consuls are sure to come 
in a body, and protest that he did-not ride down. If he smokes 
a pipe in the morning, a deputation calls upon him in the even- 
ing to know why he did not smoke a cigar. If he drinks coffee, 
they will send some rude messenger with a note asking in the 
name of some tottering dynasty why he did not drink tea." 

In this instance they joined in a lengthy protest, 
which wholly misrepresented the order, and was evi- 
dently meant to mislead the people, and prejudice 
them against Gen. Butler, rather than to right any 
wrong possible to those they professed to represent. 

The general replied, reviewing in a most scathing 
manner the treasonable record of the consuls and 
other foreigners, showing that many had joined the 
rebel army, and all had willingly sworn allegiance to 
the Confederate Government : hence he could not 
abate his order, to oblige even so respectable and 
sensitive a body of gentlemen as the seven represen- 
tatives of European states, whose names were signed 
to the protest. 

The aristocracy of New Orleans protested, not in 
a formal, but a most effectual way. Persons who 
took the oath were denied admission to the best 
society. Gentlemen were cut on the street by ladies 
of their acquaintance, and turned out of boarding- 
houses by high-toned landladies. The advantages 
were so great, however, that a very large number 
took the oath, over fourteen thousand within a month. 
With a view to the absolute preservation of the city 
from riot and bloodshed, the general ordered all pri- 
vate arms, revolvers, bowie-knives, &c., to be sur- 



TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 12/ 

rendered to the military authorities. Of course the 
consuls protested ; but the city was completely dis- 
armed, notwithstanding this official protest, every 
man receiving a receipt for his property, with assur- 
ance of its return so soon as the interests of the city 
and country would justify it. 

The complaint, that disarming the people would 
subject them to danger of being robbed, caused the 
general to issue the following order : — 

" That, hereafter, the offences of robbery by violence or ag- 
gravated assault, that ought to be repelled by the use of deadly 
weapons, burglaries, rapes, and murders, whether committed 
by blacks or whites, will be, on conviction, punished by 
death." 

Following upon the order to take the oath of alle- 
giance, and the disarming of the city, came the one 
to confiscate the property of rebellious citizens. 

This was in direct obedience to the act of Congress 
of July 17, 1862, which made it the duty of all com- 
manding generals to confiscate to the use of the Gov- 
ernment at once all property of all who held office, 
civil or military, under the Confederate Government, 
and of all others who refused to take the oath of al- 
legiance to the United States within sixty days after 
notice by proclamation by the President. 

Among the leading traitors of New Orleans, Gen. 
Twiggs and John Slidell were most prominent, and 
their estates were the first which Gen. Butler seized ; 
and the aristocratic mansion of the former became 
the residence of the commanding general and his 
staff. Among the papers of Gen. Twiggs were found 



128 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

letters which proved that he had sought the com- 
mand of the Union forces in Texas for the express 
purpose of betraying his Government, — an act only 
paralleled by the treason of Benedict Arnold. Gen. 
Butler found that constant vigilance was necessary 
to defeat the ingenuity and activity of the rebel peo- 
ple of New Orleans. Those who were allowed sixty 
days' grace before the confiscation-act could reach 
their property began at once to dispose of it by sale 
at nominal prices to non-residents, minors, &c. The 
general met this with an order rendering all such 
transfers illegal and null. He was resolved that 
nothing should save their property from confiscation 
but the taking of the oath of allegiance. 

The clergy of the city were all rebels in sentiment, 
and resolved to remain so : yet they hoped to escape 
the loss of their property on account of their sacred 
profession, — surely no profane hand could ruthlessly 
touch the money or property of a minister of the 
gospel. Rev. Dr. Mercer wrote Gen. Butler, claim- 
ing to be entirely neutral, but refusing to take the 
oath. The general replied, — 

" In my opinion, there can be no such thing as neutrahty by 
a citizen of the United States. He that is not for us is against 
us. As an officer, I cannot recognize such neutrality. All good 
citizens are called upon to lend their influence to the United 
States : all who do not do so are the enemies of the United 
States. I cannot permit any reservation of property from the 
list, or any exemption of persons from the requirements of 
Order No. 76." 

Rev. Dr. Leacock claimed to be a Union-man, 
yet declined to take the oath ; but Gen. Butler had 



TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 1 29 

got possession of a sermon of his, preached in No- 
v^ember, i860,, and pubhshed as a campaign docu- 
ment by the leaders of the secession movement. 
This sermon was full of rebel sentiment. It closed 
as follows : — 

'^ I am willing, at the call of my country, to die a free man ; 
but I'll never, no, never, live a slave ; and the alternative now 
presented by our enemies is secession or slavery. Let it be lib- 
erty or death ! " 

The reverend doctor did not sticceed in softening 
the heart of the general so far as to secure exemp- 
tion from the order. 

Major Strong, chief of Gen. Butler's staff, being a 
good Episcopalian, went into Rev. Dr. Goodrich's 
church on an October sabbath, and joined the exer- 
cises until the prayer for the President was reached, 
which was omitted, the doctor asking the congrega- 
tion to spend a few moments in silent prayer. There 
could be but one reason for this, — to pray in silence 
for Jefferson Davis. 

The major was indignant ; and, rising to his feet, he 
said, " Stop, sir ! It is my duty to bring these exer- 
cises to a close. I came here for the sole purpose of 
v/orshipping God ; but, as you omit invoking the bless- 
ing our church-service requires upon the President of 
the nation, I propose to close the services. This 
house will be shut within ten minutes." 

The minister was full of holy {.^) wrath, the ladies 
indignant ; but the major's orders were obeyed. 

Gen, Butler summoned the Episcopal clergy to 
meet him at his office on the next day. They 



I JO LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

claimed that they were only obeying the orders of 
their bishop, the Right Rev. Major-Gen. Polk. The 
general refused to recognize the authority. 

Dr. Leacock asked, " Well, general, are you going 
to shut up the churches ? " 

"No, sir. I am more likely to shut up the minis- 
ters." And he did, filling their places by chaplains 
from his army. 

Major Strong and Dr. Goodrich subsequently met 
in New York, and had a pleasant time talking and 
laughing over their first meeting. The good doctor 
had got pretty thoroughly reconstructed in the mean 
time, — a fine illustratio-n of the flexibility of the hu- 
man mind, which at one time, owing solely to the 
prejudices of education and the circumstances sur- 
rounding it, honestly holds to views which at another 
it with equal sincerity repudiates. In this fact is 
found the hope we all entertain of perfect restoration 
of that fraternal feeling and bond of national unity 
between the people of this country which character- 
ized our fathers in the early days of the Republic. 



DEALING WITH*^THE NEGRO-QUESTION. I3I 



CHAPTER XV. 

GEN. BUTLER DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. 

GEN. PHELPS THINKS HIM AN OLD HUNKER ON 

THE SUBJECT, AND RESIGNS. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S 

PRIVATE ORDERS TO GEN. BUTLER, THE SECRET OF 
HIS POLICY, ETC. 



W 



HEN Gen. Butler was about leaving: Washing:- 
ton for New Orleans, President Lincoln said 
to him, '' The Government is not yet ready to an- 
nounce a negro policy. We hope to arrive at one 
ere long. In the mean time, endeavor to avoid rais- 
ing insoluble problems and sharply defined issues. 
Try to manage so that neither aboHtionists nor con- 
servatives will have room to find fault." Rather 
difficult instructions to follow under the circum- 
stances surrounding Gen. Butler; but he followed 
them as nearly as possible. 

The negroes everywhere seemed to regard the sol- 
diers as their friends ; and they only waited for the 
smallest hint to rush in, and claim the protection of 
the army. Indeed, it was a difficult task to keep 
them out of the lines. In many cases it would have 
been not only unjust and cruel to have done so, but 



132 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

impolitic, for the reason that they brought valuable 
information which could be relied upon. The slaves 
were all loyal to the Government ; but the army could 
not feed, or find employment for, an army of one hun- 
dred thousand black men, women, and children, nor 
would it have been the proper thing to do, to take 
them off the plantations while the crops were in pro- 
cess of cultivation. Had Gen. Butler had full discre- 
tionary power, he would have solved the problem by 
issuing a proclamation of emancipation, including a 
provision binding the negroes to remain with their 
former masters on such wages as could afterwards be 
agreed upon ; but he dared not risk a revocation of such 
an order, after the news of the fate of Gen. Hunter's 
emancipation proclamation in South Carolina. 

In New Orleans negroes were given the same pro- 
tection the whites received, even to the extent of 
being permitted to testify in courts of justice : hence 
cruelty to slaves substantially ceased in the city, for 
the reason that if a negro was whipped, or in any 
manner ill-treated, he or she could have the master 
or mistress arrested, and Major Bell tried such cases 
just as he would if such relations as slave and master 
had not existed. 

Gen. Butler gave orders which were to be consid- 
ered permanent, to admit all colored persons who 
might ask to see him : his chief reason for which 
order was that he had a voluntary, vigilant, and trust- 
worthy spy in every negro in his department, and 
this because the negroes knew that in the general 
they had a friend who would redress their wrongs. 



DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. 1 33 

Gen. J. W. Phelps, an old-time Vermont abolition 
ist, a man of honest purpose and strong convictions, 
was in command of the post at Carrollton. To his 
camp the poor slaves came singly and in gangs. He 
welcomed them, and resolved, if not interfered with, 
to turn all the able-bodied men into soldiers. 

Complaints began to come to Gen. Butler, that 
Gen. Phelps was harboring slaves of Union men ; and 
the general, fearing that if not checked, this influx 
of negroes would overwhelm Gen. Phelps, wrote him 
to not permit unemployed persons, black or white, 
to come into his lines, or remain there. Gen. Phelps 
felt injured and grieved, and at once wrote a labored 
protest, covering in his argument the whole question. 
This was not only meant for the eye of his superior 
officer, but for that of the President, to whom he 
asked that it be sent. 

Gen. Butler forwarded this able letter, accompany- 
ing it by one of his own, in which he said, — 

" Gen. Phelps, I believe, intends making this a test case for 
the policy of the Government. I wish it might be so, for the 
difference of our action upon this subject is a source of trouble. 
I respect his honest sincerity of opinion ; but I am a soldier, 
bound to carry out the wishes of my- Government so long as I 
hold its commission, and I understand that policy to be the one I 
am pursuing. I beg to leave the whole matter with the President, 
with the assurance that his wishes shall be loyally followed." 

No reply coming for a month, Gen. Phelps took it 
for granted that his views were indorsed ; and he at 
once organized three regiments of colored troops, 
making a requisition for arms arid clothing, &c., on 



134 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

Capt. Davis, A.A.G., New Orleans. Gen. Butler 
had just received authority to employ as many negro 
laborers as the service might require ; and he ordered 
Gen. Phelps to put his negroes to work cutting down 
trees, and forming abattis, and instructed the quarter- 
master to furnish axes, tents, &c. 

Gen. Phelps refused to do this, and insisted upon 
his own plan of making soldiers of the negroes. 
Gen. Butler was patient but firm. A long corre- 
spondence ensued; and finally Gen. Phelps, finding he 
could not have his own way in the matter, resigned, 
and left the service. He returned to his farm in the 
•Green Mountain State, where the offer of a major- 
general's commission reached him a year later ; but 
he declined it on the ground that it did not date back 
to the time of his resignation, so as to be an indorse- 
ment of his position at that time. 

ARMING THE FREE COLORED MEN, 

After the battle of Baton Rouge, Gen. Butler re- 
solved to arm the free colored men of New Orleans, 
in doing which he was but following the example of 
Gen. Jackson when in command of the city, during 
the war of 1812. This measure seemed a necessity; 
for, although the rebel forces were being re-enforced 
all about him, his urgent requests for additional 
troops had been refused by the authorities at Wash- 
ington, on the ground that they could not spare 
them. 

On consultation with some of the principal colored 
men, the general found them eager to enter the ranks 



DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. 1 35 

of the army of freedom ; and in a short time three 
regiments of infantry, and two companies of artil- 
lery, were ready for duty. There were very few full- 
blooded negroes, or mulattoes even, among them : 
they were quadroons and octoroons, in whose veins 
ran the best blood of Louisiana, and they did not 
disgrace it on the battle-field. 

This measure of Gen. Butler's met the approval of 
the Union citizens of the city, as well as most of his 
officers and men ; but the secessionists of course 
objected, although the rebel governor, Moore, had 
armed these same men in the interest of secession in 
1861. 

A mob of Frenchmen came in collision with a 
detachment of colored troops, whom they attacked 
on the street, the result of which was that the 
Frenchmen got worsted, of which the French con- 
sul complained to the commanding general, and was 
answered that these men had as good blood in them, 
indeed, the same that warmed the heart of the dis- 
tinguished French author Alexandre Dumas, who 
was treated with the utmost respect by the aristoc- 
racy of Paris : and, besides, his countrymen had been 
entirely to blame in this affair ; the colored troops 
had simply defended themselves when attacked by 
an unlawful and brutal mob. 

About the middle of October, Gen. Butler resolved 
to put the fugitive and contraband negroes to work 
on the plantations that had been abandoned by 
their owners. His plan was to work these planta- 
tions on behalf of the Government, paying the 



136 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

negroes living wages. This or some other plan for 
the relief of these poor creatures was a necessity if 
he would not see them starve ; for there were many 
thousands of them without masters, homes, or food. 

The general also resolved to give the loyal plant- 
ers of Louisiana an opportunity to try the experi- 
ment of the wage-system with the negroes ; and this 
resolution was put in the form of a general order on 
the 1 8th of October. Both plans worked admirably. 

On being informed by letter from Gen. Butler, of 
these radical innovations, President Lincoln seemed 
much interested and pleased. It will interest the' 
reader to learn that the first barrel of sugar made by 
the negroes of Louisiana under this new system of 
paid labor was sent to the President of the United 
States, accompanied by a letter from Gen. Butler in 
which he says, *' The fact that it will have no flavor 
of the cruel and degrading whip will not, I know, 
render it less sweet to your taste." 

Never, perhaps, in the history of the world, did it 
devolve on one man to decide so many new ques- 
tions, and establish so many precedents, under such 
embarrassing circumstances, in so brief a period, as 
fell to the lot of Gen. Butler during his career as 
commander of the Department of the Gulf ; and 
surely never were such generalship, statesmanship, 
and executive wisdom displayed as characterized 
his administration. The history of it reads like a 
romance ; and, if it had come down to us from the 
days of Julius Caesar, we would regard it as extrava- 
gant fiction instead of reliable chronicle. Doubtless 



DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. 1 3/ 

future generations will find it impossible to fully 
credit it. The history of a single day at Gen. But- 
ler's headquarters will give some definite idea of the 
amount of work and the variety and multiplicity of 
duties which pressed upon him. 

We quote from Parton's " Butler in Nev/ Orleans : " 

" From eight to nine he received at his residence ladies who 
had business with him. At nine he drove to his office, where 
six mounted orderlies and as many clerks awaited his orders ; 
and from one to two hundred people were assembled in the 
ante-room, anxious to give information, make complaints, or ask 
favors. Being seated in his chair, beside a broad table on 
which lay a pistol within easy reach, to protect himself from 
.assassination, which was constantly threatened, the heads of de- 
partments were admitted. Then the Relief Commission and the 
Labor Commission. Next foreign consuls, bank-directors, and 
other persons of importance. Then the pubhc were admitted, 
thirty at a time, and ranged in a semicircle before him. Begin- 
ning at one end of the line, he would ask, — 

" ' What do you want ? ' 

" They wanted every thing that creature ever wanted, — a pass 
to go beyond the lines, an order on the Relief Committee for 
food, protection against a hard landlord, a permit to search for 
a slave, aid to recover a debt, the arbitration of a dispute, pay- 
ment of a claim against the Government, the restoration of for- 
feited property, the suppression of a nuisance, employment in 
some pubhc office, a gift of money, information on points of 
law, protection against cruel masters. Others came to give in- 
formation, or to wreak revenge by denouncing a private foe as 
a public enemy. A few short, sharp, incisive questions, and 
then the decision, clear as yes or no could make it, and not 
another word to be said. Every one got an answer, and the 
answer was generally right. Under the general's cross-ques- 
tioning all subterfuges and evasions melted away, and the truth 
stood out clear and unmistakable. 



138 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

" At eleven o'clock the letters were placed upon his table, to 
the number of eighty to one hundred. He read each one, and 
disposed of them by indorsing short sentences upon the back, 
when they were handed to the clerks to be answered in accord- 
ance with the general's notes inscribed upon them. Others 
were laid aside for further consideration or personal answer. 
Military business was next in order, after which lunch was 
served. Then, till dinner at half-past four or five, writing re- 
ports and letters filled up the time. From half-past five till 
dark, he was on horseback, reviewing regiments, visiting 
posts, &c. Then home to his. private office, where he wrote 
or dictated letters till ten. Dismissing his tired scribes, he 
finished the day's work by writing his private letters and de- 
spatches." 

He kept his work up, — never put off till to-morrow 
what should be done to-day. Letters from persons 
at home, whose sons or husbands were in his army, 
and who had ceased to write, were always promptly 
answered, giving the fullest information that could 
be obtained. It is a conceded fact, that no man ever 
commanded an army who took more kindly and 
watchful interest in his soldiers than Gen. Butler 
during or since the war. 

The first and most obvious duty of Gen. Butler 
was to hold New Orleans ; and he felt confident of 
his ability to do this with his present force. But he 
desired to do more, and he did do a great deal more ; 
and, if the re-enforcements he repeatedly asked for had 
been furnished, he would have captured Port Hudson 
and Vicksburg, and opened the Mississippi River, and 
thus saved the immense loss of life and treasure which 
was spent in their reduction a year later, after they 
had been so thoroughly fortified and manned. 



DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. 1 39 

He kept numerous small detachments of his army 
active in various parts of Louisiana, capturing small 
posts of the enemy, and subduing guerrillas. The 
achievements of these detachments were of the most 
daring and brilliant character, but the limits of our 
work forbid detail. 

The gallant repulse of Gen. Breckenridge and the 
destruction of the ram *' Arkansas " at Baton Rouge, 
on the 5th of August, was one of the most notable 
victories of the war. It was here that the gallant 
Gen. Williams fell. This brave man was everywhere 
in the hottest of the fight until near the end, when, 
coming to a regiment of Indiana troops which had 
lost all its field-officers, he took command of it him^ 
self, and fell mortally wounded while leading the 
brave Hoosiers to a charge. 

GENERAL BUTLER" IS SUPERSEDED. 

On the 9th of November the Secretary of War 
assigned Gen. Banks to the command of the Depart- 
ment of the Gulf, including the State of Texas ; and 
on the 1 6th of December Gen. Butler surrendered 
the command to his successor. Why Gen. Butler 
was relieved, has nefver been fully known to him- 
self or the people. Secretary Stanton and President 
Lincoln assured him that it was not on account of 
any waning confidence in him as a man of honor, or 
his ability as a general. A firm conviction rests in 
the minds of the general, and the friends of the 
Union, that Secretary Seward procured his recall, to 
placate the foreign ministers who secretly sympa- 



I40 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

thized with the rebels, and objected to his vigorous 
mode of suppressing treason. 

That it was a great wrong to Gen. Butler, and a 
still greater misfortune to the Union cause, is no 
longer a debatable question. He had captured New 
Orleans with fifteen thousand troops, against the 
opinion of Gen. McClellan, who said it would require 
fifty thousand. He had held it in spite of the efforts 
of Breckenridge, Lovell, and Jeff Thompson to re- 
take it, though their forces outnumbered his, proba- 
bly five to one. What he did for New Orleans and 
Louisiana has already been recorded here, and is a 
part of the imperishable history of this country. 
The following from his farewell address to the citi- 
zens of New Orleans will serve as a brief summary 
of his career in that city. He said, — 

" Citizens of New Orleans, — I speak not in bitterness. 
I have no personal animosity, I found you captured but not 
surrendered; conquered but not orderly; relieved from the 
presence of an army, but incapable of taking care of 5-ourselves. 
I restored order, punished crime, opened commerce, brought 
provisions to your starving people, reformed your currency, 
and gave you quiet protection such as you had not enjoyed for 
many years. 

" The enemies of my country, unrepentant and implacable, 
I have treated with merited severity. I hold that rebellion is 
treason, and treason persisted in is death. Upon this thesis 
have I ^administered the authority of the United States. I 
have not been too harsh. I might have smoked you to death 
in caverns as were the Covenanters of Scotland by a royal 
British general, or roasted you like the people of Algiers were 
roasted by the French ; your wives and daughters might have 
been given over to the ravisher as v/ere the women of Spain in 



DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. I4I 

the Peninsular war, and your property turned over to indis- 
criminate plunder like that of the Chinese when the English 
captured their capital ; you might have been blown from the 
mouths of cannons as were the sepoys of Delhi, — and yet kept 
within the rules of civilized war as practised by the most pol- 
ished and hypocritical nations of Europe. 

" But I have not so done. The worst punishment inflicted, 
except for crimes punishable by any law, has been banishment 
with labor. It is true, I have lived upon the wealthy rebels, 
and paid out nearly half a million of dollars to feed forty thou- 
sand starving people of all nations, assembled here, made so by 
this war. 

" I saw that this rebellion was a war of the aristocrats 
against the masses, of the rich against the poor; that it was 
a struggle for the retention of power in the hands of the 
few against the many ; and I found no conclusion to it, save 
in the subjugation of the few and the disinthralment of the 
many. 

" I therefore felt no hesitation in taking the substance of the 
rich who caused the war, to feed the poor who sufEered by it. 
And I leave you with the proud consciousness that I carry with 
me the blessing of the humble and the loyal, in the cottage of 
the free and the cabin of the slave. 

" I have demonstrated that the yellow-fever can be kept 
from your borders. 

" I have given you freedom of the elections greater than 
you have ever enjoyed before. 

" I have caused jus-tice to be administered so impartially 
that your own advocates have unanimously complimented the 
judges of my appointment. 

" You have seen, therefore, the benefit of the laws and jus- 
tice of the Government against which you have rebelled. Why, 
then, will you not all return to that Government, — not with lip- 
service, but with the heart? 

*' If you desire to leave to your children the inheritance you 
received from your fathers, — a stable constitutional govern- 
ment, — if you desire that they shall in the future be a portion 



142 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

of the greatest empire the sun ever shone upon, return to your 
allegiance. 

" There is but one thing that stands between you and the 
Government, and that is slavery. The institution, cursed of 
God, which has taken its last refuge here, in his providence 
will be rooted out, as the tares from the wheat, though the 
wheat be torn up with it. 

" I have given much thought to this subject. 

" Months of experience and observation have forced the con- 
clusion that the existence of slavery is incompatible with the 
safety of either yourselves or the Union. . . . 

" I am speaking the farewell words of one who has shown 
his devotion to his country at the peril of his life and fortune, 
who in these words can have no interest nor hope, save the 
good of those whom he addresses ; and let me here repeat, with 
all the solemnity of an appeal to Heaven to bear me witness, 
that such are the views forced upon me by experience. 

" Come, then, to the unconditional support of the Govern- 
ment. Take your own institutions into your own hands ; re- 
model them according to the laws of nations and of God, and 
thus attain that great prosperity assured to you by geographical 
position, only a portion of which was heretofore yours." 

Gen. Butler's policy and career are completely vin- 
dicated by the fact that his successor was compelled 
to adopt it, after finding his own a complete failure. 
Gen. Banks soon learned that his efforts at concilia- 
tion brought him into contempt with the rebels, who 
attributed it to cowardice. They hated Butler, but 
they feared and respected him. Had he been less 
severe, they would have despised and defied him. 

Gen. Butler sailed from New Orleans for home in 
an unarmed transport, amid the boom of cannon ^■^^' 
the shouts of a multitude of citizens and soldiers, 
who crowded the wharves to see him embark. 



DEALING WITH THE NEGRO-QUESTION. I43 

At Washington he was treated with every mark 
of respect by the President and heads of departments, 
and by the people. And from that city to his home 
at Lowell, his journey was interrupted at each im- 
portant place by ovations such as only great con- 
querors or great public benefactors receive. All the 
leading men of New York City, without regard to 
party, joined in tendering him a public reception, at 
which Mayor Opdyke presided, and Gen. Wool and 
Senator Morgan made speeches full of eulogy to the 
distinguished guest of the city. Gen Butler de- 
livered, on that occasion, a speech of wonderful 
power, in defence of the Union and in review of his 
career, which was received with unbounded enthusi- 
asm by the immense crowd of ladies and gentlemen 
who filled the Academy of Music. 



144 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GEN. BUTLER TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE 
JAMES. HIS CAREER BEFORE RICHMOND. 

GEN. BUTLER arrived from New Orleans on 
the 1st of January, 1863. Before he left the 
steamer, he received an autograph letter from Presi- 
dent Lincoln, asking him to come to Washington as 
soon as he had visited his family at Lowell. Having 
his wife with him, the general repaired to Washing- 
ton at once, and called upon the President. He 
informed him that he was very desirous of having 
enough negro troops recruited to hold the Mississippi 
Valley, so as to relieve the white forces then operat- 
ing there. Gen. Butler said, ** If you will send me 
back to New Orleans in command of the Department 
of the Gulf, I will recruit all the colored troops you 
want." But, after having been relieved of that com- 
mand without cause, he could not return as a sub- 
ordinate. The President replied, "You were not 
causelessly recalled from New Orleans, although the 
reason for it does not reflect upon your honor as a 
man, or ability as an officer." The French minister 
had demanded his withdrawal, saying that, if it was 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. I45 

not done, his Government would probably recognize 
the independence of the Confederate States. 

He then asked him if he would be satisfied with 
the command of Grant's army on the Mississippi. 
No, he replied ; for that would be unjust to Gen, 
Grant, of whom he had heard only good reports ; 
and, besides, it. would create jealousy against him in 
the army. "Then," said the President, ''we shall 
find a place for you directly. In the mean time, go 
home, and rest." 

During the next few months Gen. Butler was 
actively but variously employed, under direction of 
the President ; and in June the matter of his taking 
command of the army of Tennessee was quite ex- 
tensively discussed, the President thinking him the 
man to cut the Confederacy in two, by marching 
through to Savannah, as Gen. Sherman afterwards 
did. The committee on the conduct of the war sent 
Hon. Stephen M. Allen to consult Gen. Butler on 
the subject ; but the project was abandoned for the 
time, because of the threatened invasion of the North 
by Gen. Lee. The follov/ing letter of Hon. Stephen 
M. Allen to the committee on the conduct of the war 
describes an interview with Gen. Butler : — 

Boston, Jan. 20, 1863. 

But he thinks a glorious thing could be done by taking seventy- 
five thousand men, which could be spared from the Potomac 
and Washington (doing nothing there but keeping rebels off), 
and starting from Fort Monroe, and landing near Charleston, 
which he thinks could be done sooner than eny army could be 
transported to their aid, and then take Charleston, which could be 



146 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

done without difficulty, pass up througli the highlands of Georgia, 
where it is healthy, cut the rebels in two latitudinally, and thus 
establishing a line of communication with our western army. 

S. M. Allen. 

In November, 1863, Gen, Butler was ordered to 
relieve Gen. Foster, and take command of the de- 
partment of Virginia and North Carolina, with in- 
structions to make preparations for an early spring 
movement upon Richmond. His first work was to 
recruit a large number of negro troops ; and now, 
as all the colored troops recruited in the North and 
in Maryland were sent to him, he soon had quite a 
large negro force, which he equipped and drilled. 

About the ist of February, 1864, he learned that 
the Confederate forces had chiefly been withdrawn 
from Richmond ; and he planned an expedition, under 
Gen. Wistar, to make a raid upon Richmond, with a 
view to the capture of the Confederate Government. 
He desired particularly to get Jefferson Davis into 
his hands, as a prisoner, with a view to asking him 
to revise a certain proclamation he had made in 
regard to the general, after his recall from New 
Orleans. 

The expedition failed through the treachery of a 
Union soldier, who deserted to the rebels, and put 
them on their guard, thus preventing a surprise at 
Bottom's Bridge, across the Chickahominy, upon 
which the whole matter depended. 

On the I St. of April, Gen. Grant having been 
assigned to the command of the armies of the United 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. I47 

States, with headquarters at Washington, visited 
Gen. Butler at Fortress Monroe, for the purpose of 
conferring with him in regard to a plan for a cam- 
paign against Richmond. The plan agreed upon at 
that conference was substantially as follows ; and it 
was Gen. Butler's plan, Gen. Grant seeing the wis- 
dom of it, and adopting it. — 

To capture City Point, and the peninsula of Ber- 
muda Hundreds, between the rivers Appomattox, 
and James, as a base of operations and supplies 
against Richmond. Our navy being superior to that 
of the rebels, it could hold both rivers as high up as 
Aikin's Landing, eight miles from Richmond. There 
was a deep, impassable ravine running nearly half 
across the neck of the peninsula toward the Appomat- 
tox, which was almost met by another ravine from 
this river, having about one mile and a half of high 
ground between them, which should be fortified and 
made as impregnable as Fortress Monroe, thus secur- 
ing for the Union army a foothold within eight miles 
of the rebel capital, from which it could not be driven. 

It was agreed, that, as soon as the roads should be 
settled, Gen. Butler should march his army, re-en- 
forced by the Tenth Corps, Gen. Gilmore command- 
ing, by boats up the James River, seize the peninsula 
of Bermuda Hundreds, and store supplies and provis-- 
ions for both his own and Grant's armies, and fortify 
according to his plan. It was agreed that the move- 
ments should be so timed, that, after landing at Bef- 
muda Hundreds, Gen. Butler should make a demon- 
stration upon Petersburg, as though that were the 



148 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

object of the expedition ; and that within ten days 
he should deploy the bulk of his army around Rich- 
mond, enclosing it by the line of its outer fortifica- 
tions, the left of the army striking the James River 
above. That at the same time Gen. Grant, crossing 
the Rapidan with his army, should march by the 
right flank, drive Lee's army before him, if possible 
striking the James River above Richmond, form a 
junction with Butler, and scoop the capital out of the 
Confederacy. 

Gen. Butler made the most energetic preparations. 
Transportation sufficient to move thirty thousand 
troops, with their artillery, horses, and baggage, and 
provisions for one hundred thousand troops for ninety 
days, were procured. Preceded by the navy, he was 
to advance up the river, and seize City Point and 
Bermuda Hundreds, leave a force sufficient to begin 
a line of defensive fortifications, and to hold it in 
case of disaster. With the rest of the army he was 
to put himself below Richmond, surrounding it from 
below and above on the south, where Gen. Grant was 
to meet him in ten days from the sailing of his expe- 
dition, if possible, which was to be at the same 
moment Gen, Grant crossed the Rapidan. 

On the 4th of May, Gen. Butler received a tele- 
gram from Gen. Grant in regard to his movements ; 
and that night he commenced his, having diverted 
the attention of the enemy by a demonstration at 
West Point, at the head of York River, leading them 
to believe that was the point at which the two 
armies meant to form a junction, — which ruse sue- 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. I49 

ceeded entirely in deceiving the rebel commanders. 
On the morning of the 5th, Butler's army sailed up 
the James, preceded by the navy, and at five o'clock 
arrived at City Point and Bermuda Hundreds, seizing 
the only two salient points on the river below, and 
which were afterwards fortified and held as Forts 
Powhatan and Pocahontas. Ten thousand troops 
were landed at Bermuda Hundreds, at eight o'clock 
in the evening, while his negro cavalry, two thousand 
strong on the Richmond side of the James, were 
marching across the Chickahominy to join him at 
Turkey Bend, opposite City Point, while Gen. 
Kautz, in command of the white division of cavalry, 
marched from below Norfolk at the. same time, 
with instructions to cut the Weldon Railroad, de- 
stroy the bridges, and then join Gen. Butler at 
City Point, on the Petersburg side "of the river. 
Learning from one of his secret-service men, just 
returned from Richmond, that there was no consid- 
erable force in that city, and being within twelve 
marching miles of it, he desired to change his plan 
so far as to send a flying column of ten thousand 
men to capture the ^city that night. But his corps 
commanders opposed it, not one of them being will- 
ing to take command of the expedition. Gen. Butler 
believed then, and still believes, that Richmond could 
easily have been captured that night ; and the only 
reason he did not take command of the expedition 
personally was that he could not trust the details of 
the expedition which he was managing in other 
hands. Kautz and Cole, with their cavalry, were 



150 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

out in the neighborhood of the enemy, and might 
require assistance at any moment. He urged the 
command upon Smith, then upon Gilmore, and finally 
offered it to his chief engineer Gen. Weitzel ; but 
they each declined in turn, though Weitzel agreed 
with Gen. Butler that the plan was entirely feasible, 
and would probably succeed if attempted. 

Gen. Butler thinks that army etiquette alone de- 
terred Weitzel from accepting command of the expe- 
dition, after it had been declined by his superior 
officers. On the following day fortifications were 
commenced on the left bank of the Appomattox, four 
miles from Petersburg, and also on the right bank of 
the James. The general then made a demonstration 
upon Petersburg, and fought the battle of Swift Creek, 
with the apparent intention of crossing it to capture 
the city ; but, as soon as he thought his works strong 
enough to justify it, he moved upon Richmond with 
his whole force, except two brigades, which were left 
on the Petersburg and Richmond turnpike, to hold the 
rear in case of an advance of troops from Petersburg. 
He drove the outposts of the enemy, and captured 
his outer line of fortifications, below Fort Darling; 
and on the 15th of May he was investing Richmond 
on the south. His left wing was within a mile and a 
half of the. river above the city, and his right rested 
on the river below. This was his position, when 
Gen, Sheridan came to his headquarters, and in- 
formed him of the battle of the Wilderness, and that 
Gen, Grant^ instead of marching by his right flank to 
strike the James River above Richmond, and thus 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. I5I 

form a junction with him, was marching by his left 
fiank toward Cold Harbor, and that Grant's cavalry- 
forces were then at Turkey Bend, awaiting forage 
and provisions. 

Seeing that, owing to the disaster of the battle of 
the Wilderness, the original plan had to be aban- 
doned, that Grant was going to City Point, and 
learning that Beauregard was now in Richmond, and 
that a large number of troops were coming up from 
North and South Carolina, and evidently having no 
further business around Richmond, Gen. Butler re- 
tired within his lines af Bermuda Hundreds, and 
proceeded to carry out the other part of his instruc- 
tions, by making the fortifications complete and 
strong. 'Before that was done, however, Beauregard 
came down with a large force, and made a vigorous 
attack upon his lines, but was gallantly repulsed. 
In speaking of this. Gen. Butler says, — 

" If I had known Beauregard's force then as I do now, I 
should have allowed him to come in, and then dealt with him 
after he got there. But, as it was, we repulsed him, and con- 
tinued the line of fortifications ; and, within ten days more, had 
a line that was not and could not be carried, if defended by ten 
thousand men, by any army of the Confederacy." 

Meanwhile, finding that Petersburg had been left 
undefended, Gen, Butler drew out a column of eleven 
thousand men from the Eighteenth Corps, to attack 
that place. This force was to march for that pur- 
pose on the second day. It was only four miles ; 
but that night an order arrived from Gen. Grant, for 



152 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

all the available forces to be sent at once to West 
Point, to re-enforce him ; and this column of eleven 
thousand men were sent forward, in obedience to 
that order. Believing his hues defensible by a small 
force, against any force the enemy could send against 
them. Gen. Butler ordered Gen. Kautz, with his cav- 
alry, to go around and assault Petersburg on the 
south ; and Gen. Gilmore was ordered to assault it 
on the north side. Kautz obeyed orders, absolutely 
riding over the fortifications into the city ; but Gil- 
more failed to do his part, and returned without 
making an attack, — the reason for which has not 
been satisfactorily given. He professed to have 
learned that there was a large force in the city ; but 
it was subsequently ascertained that it was 'defended 
only by four companies of old men and boys. This 
is the same Gen. Gilmore who declined to march 
into Richmond on the 5th of May at the command 
of Gen. Butler, not because he was afraid to do so, 
but chiefly, it is supposed, to prevent Gen. Butler, 
a citizen-general, from achieving that fame which 
was justly due to him for his wisdom in planning 
campaigns, and his promptness and energy in exe- 
cuting his plans when not thwarted by insubordina- 
tion on the part of corps and division commanders, 
who, because they had been to West Point, thought 
it an outrage on them to be placed under a man of 
brains who had not received a military education 
there. This was the true reason why Gen. Butler 
failed to capture Richmond on the night of the 5th 
of May, 1864. 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. 1 53 

The battle of Cold Harbor was fought by Gen. 
Grant, on the 2d and 3d of June ; and here over five 
thousand of the eleven thousand brave men sent to 
him by Gen. Butler were lost, in killed and wounded. 
The remnant returned, and reported that Grant was 
marching to join Butler at City Point, and desired 
that preparations be made for his crossing the river 
at Fort Powhatan ; which was done. 

As soon as the returned army was rested, Gen. 
Butler sent Gen. Smith and Gen. Hinks, the latter 
in command of the colored troops, to make another 
attack upon Petersburg, which attack was ordered to 
be made at sunrise ; but, although the distance to 
march was only four miles, it was not made until near 
sunset, yet it was successful ; the defences were all 
carried. But, as night set in, Smith concluded to 
wait for re-enforcements from Grant's army ; and, 
while waiting for Hancock's corps to re-enforce him, 
Petersburg was re-enforced by a portion of Lee's 
army, who marched in on the other side, — on learn- 
ing which, he held the lines with his forces, leaving 
the enemy in possession of Petersburg, which had 
easily been his, h^d he obeyed the orders of Gen. 
Butler, and made the attack early in the morning. 
Indeed, he could have occupied and held it, had he 
gone in that night, instead of waiting for Hancock. 
It is a matter of history, that no troops ever got 
nearer Petersburg, until the final capture, than did 
the colored troops under Gen. Hinks, and the white 
soldiers under Gen. Smith, on that occasion. 

After the disaster of the mine in front of Peters- 



154 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

burg, in which the army of the James had no part. 
Gen. Butler obtained leave from Gen. Grant to cross 
the James River at Deep Bottom, on the side next 
to Richmond, and afterwards to occupy as far up as 
Aiken's Landing, including Dutch Gap and the forti- 
fications of the enemy near that, which was success- 
fully done; and the ironclads were moved up just 
below Trent's Beach, but could go no farther, be- 
cause the Howlett House battery of the rebels com- 
manded Trent's Beach, and because the water was 
not sufficiently deep to float a vessel of more than 
seven feet of draft, and the ironclads drew sixteen. 
Gen. Butler saw that in any further approaches 
toward Richmond, or attacks on the forts surround- 
ing it, he could have no aid from the navy, unless 
this obstacle at Trent's Beach could be overcome. 
The beach is in the shape of a horseshoe, and seven 
miles around ; and at the head the river bends in at 
Dutch Gap, so as to be only about four hundred and 
thirty to forty feet across. Under these circum- 
stances, seeing the necessity of the navy getting 
through there, he took Gen. Grant and the chief 
engineer of the army with him to Dutch Gap, and, 
pointing out the situation, suggested that a canal 
sixty feet wide, and sixteen deep, be cut through 
to the upper James River. After Gen. Butler had 
fully explained- the matter, both Gen. Grant and his 
chief engineer approved the project, and Gen. Butler 
was ordered to proceed with it. He did proceed 
with the Dutch Gap canal, until it was nearly com- 
pleted ; indeed, but thirty feet remained to be cut, 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. 1 55 

to reach twenty-five feet water, and enable our navy 
to sail within four miles of Richmond ; and over this 
thirty feet, between two and three feet of water was 
running. At this point, the officer in charge of the 
work was informed that the naval commander did 
not consider his force strong enough to hold the 
river against the rebel gunboats. Thus, while Gen. 
Butler was vigorously opening a channel, through 
which he might sail to the attack of the rebel fleet, 
this brave commodore got frightened out of his top- 
boots at the possibility that the rebels might take it 
into their heads to avail themselves of this opening to 
get at him. Gen. Butler says, " I was opening the 
door, to let the dog get at the wolf; but was ordered 
to keep it shut, lest the wolf should get at the dog." 

This is the secret, and the whole secret, of the 
failure of the famous Dutch Gap canal project, for 
which Gen. Butler has received so much criticism 
from the newspapers, against which he could not 
defend himself, had he been disposed to do so, with- 
out a violation of army etiquette. 

Subsequently the rebel vessels did come down, 

and chase Commodore as far as City Point ; 

and could have captured him, and Grant's head- 
quarters, had they known their strength and the 
cowardice of this naval poltroon. One of the rebel 
gunboats got aground, and the others, fearing to 
proceed without it, stopped to help it off ; which cir- 
cumstance saved the capture of Grant's headquarters 
and base of supplies at City Point, cutting our army 
in two, and holding command of the river. 



156 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

The aforesaid naval commander need not be men- 
tioned here by name. He was subsequently court- 
martialed, Commodore Farragut presiding, on the 
charge of cowardice in connection with this expedi- 
tion ; and the court found him guilty. Let his name 
sink into oblivion. 

Some time in the latter part of August, Gen. 
Grant sent two expeditions, under command of two 
of his corps commanders, across the James River, 
for the purpose of carrying the enemy's fortifications 
at Newmarket Heights, and getting possession of the 
outer line of works that protected Richmond. Both 
expeditions were unsuccessful. 

In September, Gen. Butler asked permission of 
Gen. Grant, to organize an expedition with two corps 
of white and colored troops, to cross the James River 
at Deep Bottom, and one, the colored division and 
a part of the Tenth Corps, to make an attack on 
the fortifications at Newmarket Heights, and the 
other to make an attack on Fort Harrison, a short 
distance above Dutch Gap, on the Varina turnpike, 
being the salient point of the whole line of fortifica- 
tions of Richmond along the river, and a very strong 
work. On the morning of the 29th of September, 
the colored division, under Gen. Terry, made an attack 
on Newmarket Heights, and took them after a gallant 
charge. Then the entire Tenth Corps attacked the 
fortifications on the Newmarket road. The Eigh- 
teenth Corps, under Gen. Ord, crossing at Varina's 
Landing, on a pontoon-bridge laid for that purpose, 
made an attack at daybreak on Fort Harrison, cap- 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. 15/ 

tared it, and, but for the serious wounding of Gen. 
Ord, would doubtless have proceeded to Richmond at 
once, as Butler's army now had possession of the en- 
tire line of fortifications from Fort Harrison around 
to the Newmarket road, being the outer line of the 
defences of Richmond, and but six miles from the city. 
This success so alarmed Gen. Lee, that on the 30th 
of September he sent two of his very best divisions 
to attack Butler's forces. A severe battle was fought^ 
resulting in a brilliant victory for the army of the 
James. The loss to the rebels was sixteen battle- 
flags, and a large number of men, chiefly captured. 
It is worthy of mention, that from that day to the 
final surrender of Richmond, no troops ever got 
nearer the city than did the colored troops of But- 
ler's army on that occasion ; and they v^ere the first 
to enter the Confederate capital when it was finally 
captured. 

During the summer of 1864, Gen. Butler not only 
had immediate command of the army of the James, 
planning and conducting all its campaigns, but he 
was also charged by the government with the task of 
conducting the exchange of prisoners between the 
two belligerent powers, a most laborious duty ; and, 
besides all this, he had command of the rebel prison- 
ers at Point Lookout. 

A personal inspection of Wilmington convinced 
Gen. Butler that the blockade there was not effective, 
and that it cost a great deal of money to keep it up. 
The secretary of the navy was very anxious that 
Fort Fisher, which commanded the approaches of the 



158 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, 

Cape Fear River, should be captured. Fort Fisher is 
situated on a sandy promontory running out into the 
sea, with deep water very close to it. The immense 
damage done by an explosion of gunpowder at Aln- 
wick, England, in the summer of 1864, suggested to 
Gen. Butler the possibility of blowing up Fort Fisher 
by that agent. He wrote to the secretary of the 
navy, who laid the matter before a board of officers, 
who approved of Gen. Butler's plan. The experiment 
was attempted, but failed ; and the newspapers very 
largely laid the blame of the whole matter upon Gen. 
Butler. But the facts are, that the whole matter was 
left to the navy, who utterly failed to adopt his plans, 
or profit by his suggestions. His plan was to put, 
say, two hundred and fifty tons of gunpowder into a 
steamer, with fuses of a certain kind, which he pro- 
cured, running all through the magazine of powder, 
so as to explode the whole of it at once. The steamer 
was to be run immediately under the fort, where the 
explosion would occur in a certain brief period, regu- 
lated by clock-work. 

He supplied the naval officer having the matter in 
charge with- the proper fuse ; but it was not used. 
The vessel that contained the powder, instead of 
being run ashore under the walls of the fort, was 
anchored more than half a mile above it, beside a 
sandy beach ; and, instead of the powder being simul- 
taneously exploded by clock-work, as was planned by 
Gen. Butler, a fire' was simply kindled on the fore- 
castle of the vessel, which, when it burned down to 
the powder, exploded a small portion of it, and blew 



TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. 1 59 

the rest into the sea, where, of course, it never 
burned. Thus it is seen, that although Gen. Butler 
is entitled to the honor of having suggested a plan 
for blowing up. Fort Fisher, and a plan which doubt- 
less would have succeeded, his plan was not adopted. 
But Admiral Porter, who had the whole matter in 
charge, under direction of the Naval Office, and over 
whom Gen. Butler had no control, adopted a plan of 
his own, which proved a scandalous failure. 

Porter was sanguine of success ; and so fearful of 
the effect of the explosion, tljat he took his fleet 
eleven miles away, as a measure of safety. Gen. 
Butler took his troops down to Fort Fisher ; and, 
after witnessing the bombardment by the fleet, which 
• followed the explosion, and being satisfied that the 
fort, being practically uninjured, could be taken only 
by a sacrifice of life too great to be justified under the 
circumstances, when all that could be gained would 
be to stop blockade-running, while Sherman was then 
marching to Savannah, and Fort Fisher and all must 
soon fall, he, like a brave, humane, and wise com- 
mander, resisted the temptation to win fame at the sac- 
rifice of his soldiers, and marched back to City Point. 

Prior to this, however, in November, the Secretary 
of War had sent Gen. Butler to New York City with 
a portion of his command, with orders to see that 
no disturbance occurred on presidential-election day. 
He obeyed this order ; and for once, at least. New 
York enjoyed a quiet and fair election. 

After he was relieved from command. Fort Fisher 
was taken, with a loss of about eight thousand men 



l60 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

killed and wounded ; shortly after which, it fell into 
the hands of Gen. Sherman, just as it would have 
done, without any loss of blood or life. 

The author will close the history of Gen. Butler's 
military career with the following from Gen. Grant, 
as given to a correspondent of *'The New York 
Herald," and published in that paper, on the 25th of 
May, 1878: — 

" As it was, I confronted Lee, and held him and all his hosts 
far from Richmond and the James ; while I sent, the same day 
of my advance across the Rapidan, a force by the James River, 
sufficient, as I thought, to have captured all south of Richmond 
to Petersburg, and hold it. I believe now, that if Gen. Butler 
had had two corps commanders such as I might have selected, 
had I known the material of the entire army as well as I did 
afterwards, he would have done so ; and would have threatened 
Richmond itself, so as materially to have aided me farther 
north." 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. l6l 



CHAPTER XVII. 

GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. 

WE have, in former chapters, considered Gen. 
Butler's career as a lawyer, a politician, a sol= 
dier, and an executive officer. We now come to a 
consideration of his record as a statesman and politi- 
cal economist. 

Gen. Butler is a radical conservative, by which is 
meant that his mind not only traverses the gamut of 
ideas, from the basic principles to the ultimate, but 
possesses the logical power to grasp, hold, and apply 
the practical deductions of all propositions of truly 
philosophic character. 

He is, therefore, a statesman after the type of 
Cuvier, Franklin, ai^d Jefferson, the three greatest 
statesmen and most profound political economists of 
their time, and all of whom recognized and advocated 
the fundamental principles of the financial system of 
which Gen. Butler is the leading representative and 
most prominent advocate, and which are sustained by 
the leading financial writers of this country and 
Europe still, and which were ably set forth by John 
C. Calhoun and other distinguished foes of the United 
States Bank. 



1 62 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

To write a history of Gen. Butler's career as a 
financial reformer, is to present the chief events that 
have culminated in the formation of the national 
party, and the principles upon which it is founded ; 
for although Thaddeus Stevens, as chairman of the 
Ways and Means Committee in the House of Repre- 
sentatives in Congress, reported the legal tender 
greenback bill of 1862, it was Gen. Butler who, in 
January, 1869, framed the first bill which embodies 
the principles of a perfect paper money. 

The greenback is a government note, a promise to 
pay, simply a substitute for bank-paper. It is supe- 
rior to bank-paper in that it rests upon the credit of 
the nation, instead of depending for its redemption 
upon a bank corporation : hence it has a uniform 
value throughout the whole country. It is true that 
there is no time set when it shall be redeemed, nor 
any specific provision for its redemption in coin or 
any other form of money ; but the fact that it bears 
upon its face the promise of the Government of the 
United States to pay the bearer the amount repre- 
sented by the bill implies a time when it shall be 
paid, and furnishes the bullionists an excuse for 
unsettling the currency and business of the countiy 
by constant clamors and efforts for a return to a 
specie basis and a redemption of the greenback in 
coin. There is another defect in the greenback, — a 
defect for which Mr. Stevens was not responsible : it 
is not a legal tender in the payment of custom dues, 
or the interest on the public debt, which fact alone 
has been the cause of the fluctuations in coin, and all 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. 163 

the infamous evils of gold speculations, and the depre- 
ciation of our interest-bearing bonds. The bill above 
referred to, which Gen. Butler introduced in the 40th 
Congress, January, 1869, authorizes the issuance, by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, of treasury certificates, 
which shall not be promises to pay, but shall bear 
upon their face the denomination or value repre- 
sented, and a vignette, to prevent counterfeiting ; 
and, on the back, the law authorizing their issuance. 
In all other respects they would be in the similitude 
of the greenback. The law printed upon the back 
makes them legal tender money, equal to any money 
coined by the authority of the United States. The 
bill provides for the repeal of that part of the national 
bank law which authorizes the banks to issue cur- 
rency, and compels the redemption of all national 
bank-notes in these treasury certificates. It also 
provides, that, when the banks surrender their own 
notes for treasury certificates, the securities, govern- 
ment bonds, which form the basis of their currency, 
shall remain in the United-States treasury, and that 
3tS^o P^'' ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ interest accruing thereon shall 
be paid to the Government for the use of said treas- 
ury certificates. The bill further provides that any 
corporation or individual may deposit the interest- 
bearing bonds of the Government with the United- 
States Treasurer, or any sub-treasurer, and receive 
ninety per cent of the face of said bonds in treasury 
certificates, for which they will be charged interest 
at the rate of Sjq%, to be deducted from the interest 
accruing on the said bonds so deposited. 



164 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

On the 1 2th of January, 1869, Gen. Butler delivered 
a speech in the House of Representatives of Con- 
gress, in support of his said bill. The following are 
the chief points of that speech : — 

He said, — 

" We want a unifor?n, sound, cheap, stable, and elastic cur- 
rency. 

" All financial writers agree that paper money is the cheapest 
of any circulating medium. Experience has proven that na- 
tional bank-notes, based upon the faith and credit of the coun- 
try, possess the quality of soundness equal to any possible 
currency; and, as to the elasticity of paper money, there can 
be no room for argument. Stability is the fixedness of volume 
of the currency as compared with the property to be measured 
by it ; and no one can doubt that paper money, regulated as to 
volume by law, is absolutely stable, while money coined of gold 
or silver, or any other substance, limited in production, and 
fluctuating as to amount, is unstable and fluctuating. 

" Our present paper currency is sound and uniform, and, as 
to its production, cheap. But, while it costs but little to produce 
it, it is dear to the people, because monopohzed by privileged 
capitalists : about half of it being fundable into gold-bearing 
six per cent bonds, which are free from taxation ; and the other 
half issued through banks, which, while they get about eighteen 
million dollars a year from the Government for issuing the three 
hundred million dollars for which they pay nothing, they charge 
the people an average of about ten per cent a year. 

" Another fault of our present currency is, that, while it is a 
legal tender among the people, it is not so in the payment of 
import dues, or the interest on the pubhc debt, to which fact is 
due the disastrous fluctuations that have occurred in our mixed 
system of currency. 

"The remedy for this, presented by the hard-money men, is 
to resume specie payments, that is, return to the system of cur- 
rency existing before the war ; which, if it were not impossible, 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. 165 

would be absurd. The first effect of an attempt to reach a specie 
basis would be a ruinous depreciation of every species of prop- 
erty except government bonds, and of all wages save those of 
salaried officers, while every bond and note would increase in 
value to an extent most oppressive and ruinous to the tax-payers 
and those in debt. Such an unsettling in values the world has 
never seen, nor any nation endured. It would be equivalent to 
confiscation by act of Congress of one-third the value of all the 
property in the country, except bonds and notes. I will not 
insult the intelligence of the House by any argument upon the 
feasibility or practicability of tjiis scheme, which proposes to 
deprive the farmers, manufacturers, merchants, and industrial 
and enterprising classes, of one-third their values, for the benefit 
of a few capitalists." 

In the light of the fearful experience through 
which this country has passed since the contraction 
of the currency began, and especially since the pas- 
sage of the resumption law, these words of Gen. 
Butler, uttered ten years ago, become prophetic wis- 
dom of the highest type. 

He foresaw then the evils that must attend the 
financial scherpes, which, if not villanous, were in- 
sane or idiotic, of those who advocated a return to a 
coin basis ; and, like a wise statesman, a true friend 
of the people, he proposed an excellent remedy, in 
the bill for the establishment of a government paper 
money, which should be equal to gold in all respects, 
and free from the limitations and other defects of the 
old greenback and the national-bank currency. 

He says, — 

" Let no man say that I desire to establish or perpetuate a 
depreciated currency. I think I have proposed a currency as 
valuable as gold, and, for all purposes of a circulating medium, 



l66 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

better than gold ; every dollar of which, I doubt not, will soon 
be made equal to gold. But what I do desire is, that the cur- 
rency shall not be redeemable in gold and silver, so that any 
man, because he has a dollar of it, can call for so many grains 
of gold, which must be paid him, and the currency cancelled to 
that extent ; but with his currency he must buy his gold as he 
does his wheat, where it can be had in open market. In other 
words, the value of the currency of this country, its volume, its 
stability, the values of all property of the country, shall no longer 
be at the mercy of the panics, the caprice, the speculations, or 
the needs, of the bankers of Europe or the traders of Asia. 

" But I hear the bullionists exclaim, ' Our money must be the 
same as the money of the world.' ' We cannot have a different 
standard of value from other nations.' I would as soon, or 
sooner, have our government, our laws, our institutions, the same 
as the institutions of the rest of the world. We have divested 
our government of every trait of the despotisms, every attribute 
of the monarchies, and every vestige of the slaveries, of the Old 
World, save one ; and that is the all-controlling and all-absorb- 
ing power by which masses of the people of all nations of the 
earth have ever been enslaved, — coined money. 

" More than three thousand years ago the despots of the 
world, as the most potent method to enrich themselves and 
their favorites, and perpetuate their tyranny, hit upon the device 
of impressing their ' image and superscription,' or other peculiar 
stamp, upon pieces of two of the metals, not the most intrin- 
sically useful or the most beautiful, but the most scarce, and diffi- 
cult of attainment by the masses of the people ; thus arbitrarily 
making a measure of value and equivalent for which the prop- 
erty of their subjects must be exchanged. Because of their 
capabilities of being so converted into equivalents of power, 
the so-called precious metals were eagerly sought after by all 
men, in such a degree that they came falsely to be deemed to 
have a special intrinsic value in themselves equal to the effigy 
of value stamped upon them. 

"In the earliest republics, when governments were estab- 
lished by the people for themselves, the worth and potency of 



GEN, BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. 167 

these metals were antagonized as attributes of despotism. 
They stamped value upon the more common and equally useful 
metals generally distributed among the people, to be used by 
them as instruments of exchange and trade. 

" Thus, in early Greece, the effigy of the ox, the most valua- 
ble of the people's possessions, was impressed upon pieces of 
brass or iron, intrinsically of little value, but thus made the 
equivalent of comparatively considerable wealth. 

" So Rome, for more than five centuries, used the effigy of 
the shQep, pecus, impressed upon copper for currency, thereby 
giving the name pecunia^ by which money and wealth were 
afterwards designated throughout the world. It is now ad- 
mitted by all pohtical economists, that finely engraved printing 
upon paper, fixing its value, is the best of all possible substi- 
tutes for coined money for circulation, and cheaper as a cur- 
rency for a people than gold itself. It may therefore be safely 
assumed, that, had the arts and education been sufficiently 
advanced in the Grecian and Roman republics, the money of 
the people would have been such paper, instead of the ponder- 
ous and inconvenient metals. 

" Not until the people of these free commonwealths became 
deteriorated by vices and luxury, yielding their hberties to 
tyrants either by choice or usurpation, did gold and silver, the 
ever-ready adjuncts of despotic power in all its forms and 
degrees, obtain place and scope to do their appropriate and 
never-failing work, the enslavement of the labor of the masses. 
It will be remembered, when the victorious Gaul threw his 
sheathed sword into th6 scale as the counterpoise of Rome's 
degradation, the beam was not balanced by her money, but by 
the ornaments and trinkets of the richer of her citizens ; for 
she had neither gold nor silver coins for more than a century. 

" Twelve centuries afterward, when the feudal system 
divided Europe, just then emerging from the dark ages, into 
many small principalities and powers, had given petty princes, 
dukes, barons, and bishops, control of the liberties of the 
impoverished people, each claimed as his prerogative the right 
to fix his value to pieces of gold and silver, and the same to 



1 68 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

change and debase at his will, by which his serfs must measure 
their possessions, and pay tribute to him of all they had. 
Coined gold and silver has ever been the handmaid of despot- 
ism ; the prop of monarchical power ; the supporter of thrones ; 
the upholder of nobilities and priesthoods ; the engine by 
which the privileges and pretensions of aristocrats have always 
been sustained in trampling down the rights, devouring the sub- 
stance, and absorbing the unrequited labors, of the masses. 
Through all time the possession of money has given power to 
the few to enslave the labor of the many for the benefit of 
princes and nobles ; and its use has been the badge of servi- 
tude of all peoples of some king or tyrant. To deny this, at 
one time, was treason. 

" Our patriot fathers, founding a government for themselves 
on this continent, carefully eliminated from its framework every 
attribute of monarchy and aristocracy, the divine right of kings, 
patents of nobility, the succession of primogeniture, the law of 
entail, the fealty of one man to another, — every one of the 
devices of kingcraft and oppression with which the people are 
governed by a class, — all, save one : they retained, whether for 
good or evil, the precious metals stamped with the king's image 
as the standard by which to measure the property and industry 
of the new Republic. ' It was a grievous fault,' and grievously 
have their children answered it. Great, wise, and good men, 
we marvel that they foresaw so much ; ' but they saw not all 
things.' 

" It is easy to understand what determined them in this ex- 
ceptional adoption of gold and silver, which were the monar- 
chical standards of value. They had just emerged from a war 
for liberty, during which they had seen their paper substitute 
for that standard rendered quite valueless and useless, because 
made convertible and redeemable in gold and silver only, 
where gold and silver were impossible to be had. 

" But the Continental currency wanted every thing which 
could give it value. Issued by an aggregation, or conglomera- 
tion rather, of States just struggling for existence, trying an 
experiment of government in a new world which many of their 



I 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER, 169 

best people more than doubted would be a failure, and end in 
anarchy ; without checks and guards against over-issues, coarsely 
engraved, easy of forgery, degraded by counterfeits by their ene- 
mies so that it was difficult to distinguish the genuine from the 
false, — the only wonder is that such a currency was ever capa- 
ble of the good service it did do in the war of independence." 

After a masterly and scholarly review of the his- 
tory of currency in our own country and Europe, 
showing that in that period when gold and silver had 
been the nominal money, paper currency had really 
been the circulating medium, and that, while coin 
had been the pretended basis of the paper currency, 
it had always failed as a redeeming power whenever 
put to the test. Gen. Butler closed his speech as fol- 
lows : — 

" Instead of this money, the instrument of tyrants, which 
has wrought all these evils, I propose a paper currency, admittedly 
the cheapest and most convenient, its value based not only 
upon the gold in the country, but upon every other source and 
element of the national prosperity, emancipated from the con- 
trol of all other nations, whether civilized or barbarous. It is 
the currency for a free people, strong enough to maintain every 
other of their institutions against the world, whose governments 
they have antagonized ; strong enough to sustain the measure 
of their business transactions with each other, independent of 
kings, the least, — or bankers, now the most, — potent sovereigns 
in the world. It is one of the blessings of the war, that we are 
enabled for the first time to stand alone in our industries and 
internal commerce, as we have in our institutions. 

"It cannot fail to have attracted attention, that the only rem- 
edy for all evils brought on by a currency convertible into spe- 
cie when distress is upon the merchant, ruin upon the manu- 
facturer, and disaster upon the banker, when the banks of the 
United States, of England, and of France could afford no aid, 



I/O LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, 

has always been a suspension of specie payments ; i.e., by the 
use in these, the foremost nations of the world, of an inconvert- 
ible paper currency. If such currency is so potent as a remedy 
for all financial diseases which beset a nation, whether in peace 
or war, whether arising from over-trading, over-speculation, or 
over-investment, why may it not be equally beneficial as a fixed, 
permanent, and staple circulating medium, to supply the de- 
mands of business and the necessities of the people ? 

" The experiment of an inconvertible currency has been 
tried on the most extended scale, and through long periods of 
time, and under the most trying circumstances, and has never 
failed. In 1797, when the British Empire was threatened with 
rebellion in Ireland, and was sustaining all Europe against the 
victories of Bonaparte with its subsidies of gold, the question 
came to her great war-minister, Pitt, Shall the integrity of the 
empire be lost ? Shall France overrun all Europe, and threaten 
Great Britain in the East .'' or shall the currency of the empire 
be the inconvertible note of the Bank of England ? He chose 
the latter, — how wisely, the success of England and the allied 
armies culminating at Waterloo attest. An inconvertible cur- 
rency fought the battles of England and of the world from that 
Sunday morning, the 23d of February, 1797, when the king him- 
self, in council, ordered the suspension of specie payments till 
the i8th of June, 1815. 

" Irredeemable paper laid the foundation of England's man- 
ufacturing and commercial prosperity, supplied her navy, which 
at Trafalgar made her the mistress of the seas, and procured 
the gold with which all the armies of Europe were paid ; and 
for eighteen years there was neither financial revulsion, busi- 
ness-panic, nor distress. In answer to the objection that it is 
necessary to have gold currency for foreign trade, I quote 
Maclaren, — one of the most philosophical as well as accurate 
writers of England, — in his History of the Currency: — 

" * It is remarkable that no difficulty was experienced by our merchants in 
carrying on their trade with other nations during this period, though they no 
longer had a stock of bullion kept for them at the bank, by means of which 
they might adjust their foreign payments. No inconvenience, indeed, of any 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. I /I 

kind, was felt from the substitution of paper for gold ; and, if the bank-directors 
had so ordered their issues as to keep the mint and market price of gold on an 
equality, it seems that no objection could have been urged against the paper 
currency, except its liability to forgery, and we should never have heard of the 
currency controversy.' 

" We remember our ov/n war of the Rebellion, without the 
legal-tender note, must have come to an end in the beginning 
of 1862. The banks had suspended, and, like broken reeds 
the Government could no longer lean upon them. Business 
was paralyzed, men and supplies could hardly be obtained, the 
armies were unpaid, and no decisive battle had been fought 
when Congress passed the legal-tender act of 1862. From 
that tim.e business received a new impulse, labor was employed, 
manufactures everywhere sprung up, supplies were abundant ; 
and although by a great error the legal-tender note was not 
made the money of the Government for all purposes, as it 
should have been, yet, crippled as it was, it supplied and paid 
our soldiers, pensioned the wounded, provided for the widow 
and orphan, and produced a degree of prosperity heretofore 
unknown, which has been maintained ever since ; and during 
this period of six years financial panics and disasters were un- 
known and unthought of until the insane attempt of the bank- 
er and capitalist to force a return to specie payments by a con- 
traction of the currency. 

" During the year 1864 we exported more than one hundred 
millions of gold and silver, only thirty-five millions of which 
came from San Francisco, and no one knew the fact from any 
effect it had on the busin'ess of the country. In any other year, 
while our currency was upon a specie basis, the export of one- 
tenth part of that sum beyond our production would have pro- 
duced financial panics, ruin, and distress, greater than that of 
1837, when our total export of specie was less than six million 
dollars. 

" Point me to any other six years in the financial histo*-y of 
the country, in which labor has been so well paid ; in which pro- 
duction has been so varied and so successful ; in which there 
has not been more than one financial panic, scattering ruin and 



1/2 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

disaster through the land. We have heard much of the patri- 
otism of the bankers and capitalists, who are said to have come 
forward to lend their gold to the country in its time of utmost 
need ; but that is exactly what they did not do. 

''In December, 1861, the banks suspended specie payments 
without right, without authority of law, in violation of their own 
plighted faith and promises, so that neither the Government nor 
any one else could get a dollar of their gold from their vaults. 
When, in pursuance of the act of Congress of 25th February, 
1862, $150,000,000 of legal-tender notes were issued, with which 
our soldiers were paid, and the debts of the United States can- 
celled, did the banks or capitalists loan these to the Govern- 
ment, or did we make them for ourselves.^ On the contrary, 
the banks refused even to receive the Government notes on 
deposit. When the Government wanted more money to pay 
the soldier, and carry on the war, did they get it from the 
banker and capitalist? No : they issued their own legal-tender 
notes as money, and paid their debts. Having provided that 
these notes might be funded into a gold-bearing six per cent 
bond, the capitalists bought them up when they fell to a dis- 
count of sixty per cent, by selling the gold at that premium, 
which they had hoarded in their vaults, and had refused to loan 
to the Government, and funded this, which they now call failed 
paper, in bonds for the payment of which in gold, or, what is its 
equivalent, a return to specie payments, they now howl at the 
doors of the Capitol, unmindful of the destruction of value, the 
starving of the laborer, and the ruin and devastation they may 
cause. 

" Although this return to specie payment has been agitated 
ever since the war, what petition has come up to you from the 
people demanding it at your hands.? What meetings of the 
people have been held to make to you petitions for relief from, 
grievances in this behalf.? Not one, — not one: only resolu- 
tions of boards of trade and bankers. 

" I stand here, therefore, for inconvertible paper money, the 
greenback, which has fought our battles, and saved our country ; 
which has been held by us as a just equivalent for the blood 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. 1 73 

of our soldiers, the lives of our sons, the widowhood of our 
daughters, and the orphanage of their children. 

" I stand here for a currency by which the business 
transactions of forty million people are safely and successfully 
done ; which, founded on the faith, the wealth, and property of 
the nation, is at once the exemplar and engine of its industry 
and power, — the money which saved the country in war, and 
which has given it prosperity and happiness in peace. To it 
four million men owe their emancipation from slavery; to it 
labor is indebted for elevation from that thrall of degradation 
in which it has been enveloped for ages. I stand for that 
money, therefore, which is by far the better agent and instru- 
ment of exchange of an enlightened and free people than gold 
and silver, — the money alike of the barbarian and the despot." 

Gen. Butler has not found it necessary to materially 
change his views since the delivery of this speech. 
On the contrary, he has maintained the position on 
the currency question then assumed ; and by tongue 
and pen, in the halls of Congress, on the lecture-plat- 
form, in the chambers of commerce, on the public 
rostrum, he has done what he could to educate the 
people on this vital issue, — the most vital issue ever 
presented to the American people. 

In the mean time the public sentiment of the coun- 
try has been, at first slowly, but now rapidly, coming 
in favor of his views. On the 26th of February, 
1878, in the House of Representatives of Congress, 
Gen. Butler delivered a speech upon finance, in which 
he summarizes his doctrines in a manner so terse, 
comprehensive, and clear, that none can fail to under- 
stand him. He said, — 

" We want the greenback for our currency, and mean to 
have it. 



174 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

" But I do not desire that the greenback currency should be 
made to serve the country as it has done, — vilified, insulted, 
depreciated by the act of the Government itself ; being refused 
not only to be received for all debts due the Government, not 
even paid for all demands due from the Government. 

" The ' American system of finance ' vi^hich will obtain in 
the near future, — and I hope at once, — which I desire, is : — 

" First, a dollar that shall have at all times a certain fixed 
and stable value below which it cannot go. 

" Second, I demand that that dollar shall be issued by the 
Government alone, in the exercise of its high prerogative and 
constitutional power, and that that power shall not be delegated 
to any corporation or individual, any more than Charles the 
Second ought to have delegated his prerogative of stamping 
gold coin for the benefit of his paramours, as a monopoly. 

" Third, I want that dollar stamped upon some convenient 
and cheap material of the least possible intrinsic value, so that 
neither its wear nor its destruction will be any loss to the Gov- 
ernment issuing it. 

" Fourth, I also desire the dollar to be made of such material 
for the purpose that it shall never be exported or desirable to 
carry out of the country. Framing an American system of 
finance, I do not propose to adapt it to the wants of any other 
nation, and especially the Chinese, who are nearly one-quarter 
of the world. 

" Fifth, I desire that the dollar so issued shall never be re- 
deemed. I see no more reason why the unit of measure of 
value should be redeemed or redeemable, than that the yard- 
stick with which I measure my cloth or the quart with which I 
measure my milk should be redeemed. 

" Sixth, For convenience only, I propose that the dollar so 
issued shall be quite equal to, or a little better than, the present 
value of the average gold dollar of the world, not to be changed 
or changeable, if the gold dollar grows lower in value or grows 
higher, or to be obliged to conform itself in value in any regard 
to the dollars of any other nation of the world ; keeping itself 
always stable and fixed, so that, when all the property of the 



GEN. BUTLER AS A FINANCIAL REFORMER. 1/5 

country adjusts itsdf to it as a measure of value, it shall remain 
a fixed standard forever. But, if it is ever changed, it shall 
change equally and alike for the creditor and the debtor ; noc 
as the dollar based upon supposed gold, whose changes always 
have given the creditor the advantage. 

" This would tend to bring to an end in all matters of finance 
the contest between capital and labor, the rewards of both being 
brought into the same medium of exchange. 

" By this system of finance the unforeseen fluctuations in the 
volume of the currency ; the fall in values of property, not to be 
provided against by business foresight ; the high rate of interest 
which eats out the very vitals of enterprise ; the means of 
manipulating the currency, by which the banker grows rich, and 
the business man grows poor; and the fluctuations of real 
estate, the most valuable and stable of all possessions, now 
changing like the variations of the barometer as the whirlwind 
approaches, — will be as much a thing of the past as are the 
products of hand-spinning and hand-weaving as compared with 
the textures woven by the power-loom. 

" I sketched in this place this system of finance nine years 
ago. It was not popular then, perhaps because unknown: it 
is now much more known, and has become the demand of the 
people. I have received political persecution, and sometimes 
almost social ostracism, because of these views, ever since. 
What motive could I then have had, and now have, to advocate 
them, except the prosperity, power, and glory of my country .? 

" Because of this advocacy I have been called a demagogue. 
If a demagogue, why did I advocate then, and still cling to, an 
unpopular measure ? Demagogues seek to ride into power on 
popular prejudices. On the contrary, the statesman seeks to 
remedy hurtful errors in the government of his country, and 
instruct the popular mind in regard to them, regardless of loss 
or gain, of place or power. By that standard I am ready to 
have all my acts tried in the candid judgment of all just men." 

It is an interesting though disagreeable fact, that 
the progressive statesman and religious reformer 



176 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

share the same fate in all ages and (!;ountries-, — that 
of being misunderstood, misrepresented, maligned, 
and persecuted by those in power and position. As 
illustrations the author points to Garrison, Phillips, 
Giddings, Hale, Sumner, and Lincoln. The cause 
for which these labored and suffered has triumphed, 
hence their persecutions have ceased. They are he- 
roes now, not martyrs ; statesmen, not demagogues. 
But thirty years ago every one of these men were 
the subjects of the vilest abuse and bitterest denun- 
ciation by the majority of the politicians and editors ; 
and even the pulpit was in large measure against 
them. The demagogue floats with the current of 
popular opinion, merely reflecting the opinions of 
others, never daring to have one of his own. Thus 
he avoids arousing the ignorant prejudices of pulpit, 
press, and party, who join in pronouncing him a 
statesman. 

The true statesman, however, is a different sort of 
man. He has opinions, and the courage and honesty 
to express them and defend them. Those who do 
not agree with him, yet cannot successfully criticise 
his views, denounce him as a fool or a demagogue. 
This is the secret of all the ridicule and vile abuse, 
fulminated at Gen. Butler on account of his currency 
doctrines. 



AS A FRIEND OF THE WORKING-CLASSES. 



177 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



GEN. BLTLER AS A FRIEND OF THE WORKING-CLASSES. 



DURING his entire career, public and private, 
Gen. Butler has shown a keen and active sense 
of justice. This sentiment is his guide. ' By it he 
is governed in his business relations, and to it he is 
ever true in his political action. 

As a private citizen, an officer in the army, a mem- 
ber of the assembly of his State or of the National 
Legislature, his influence, his pen, and his voice are 
active in behalf of those, who, as he justly says, 
create the wealth of the world by the toil of the 
hand, and the sweat of the face, but who get but a 
meagre share of what they create. 

In a speech delivered in Congress, May 21, 1878, 
on Jiis own bill for the relief of the laboring classes, 
the following eloquent and thrilling sentences 
occur : — 

"Within two years, 1862 and 1864, Congress appropriated 
sixty-four million dollars to railroad companies, besides giving 
them, at that time and since, 285,000,000 of acres of the public 
lands, an empire in extent, and worth, at the price these corpo- 
rations are charging the emigrants, five dollars per acre, $1,425,- 
000,000, being, when added to the money subsidies, an amount 



178 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

almost equal to the entire bonded debt of the nation. How 
much capital received of these vast sums, and how much la- 
bor got for its share, can never be accurately known. But one 
thing is certain : that the industrial classes never got one dollar 
that they did not work and pay for by their labor. No divi- 
dends, no subsidies, no Credit Mobiliers, ever come to labor. 

"The laborer is the producer of wealth; capital is the receiver 
and distributor ; and there should be no contest, but an equita- 
ble reciprocity between them ; neither should get more in fair 
proportion than the other. As the veins and arteries take up 
and circulate the blood in the nourishment of the human body, 
so capital ought to circulate wealth by means of the veins and 
arteries of trade through the body politic for the nourishment 
of every part thereof. When the circulation of "our blood stag- 
nates, or any organ or member of our body absorbs more than 
its share, disease ensues, and if a remedy is not applied death 
follows. 

"Is there no stagnation now? Is there no disease in the 
body politic ? and does wealth equally and properly share in just 
proportion, and nourish all the members of the body of the 
nation, and circulate equally and steadily through every vein 
and artery ? Or is it stagnant and corrupt around the heart and 
the head, leaving the arms and feet cold as in death, and the 
whole body ready to perish ? Woe to us if fever sets in, and 
the paralyzed arm becomes uncontrolled by the will, and strikes 
home, scattering confusion, riot, and death ! 

" I speak these words in all soberness and sorrow, because I 
feel it my duty so to do. I call attention to the wrong, and the 
necessity of remedy. I call upon Congress here and now to 
apply that remedy at once. We have spent more than a week 
over a political question which for its utmost can have no sig- 
nificance in affecting the. business of the country, being only 
whether A or B shall distribute the Federal offices. Would 
that that week could have been devoted to steady, careful exami- 
nation of the dangers which sorround us, and an endeavor to 
apply a remedy ! 

" Mark my words, for I desire to be held responsible for 



AS A FRIEND OF THE WORKING-CE ASSES. 1 79 

them : there is great danger if we allow ourselves to go home, 
and give no relief to the present condition of the country. When 
the day of reckoning comes, as come it must, how mean and piti- 
ful will our economies in appropriations appear ! 

" I know that these views and the consideration of this sub- 
ject is not a pleasant one. I neither ask for, hope, nor expect 
applause for presenting them to this House. If I desired that, 
I would make a speech, if I could, showing how the value of a 
United States bond in the hand of a foreign banker could be 
raised ten per cent ; or how it were possible that a favorite 
claim of some section of the country could be saddled on the 
treasury ; or how the favorite interest of some portion of the 
country could be subserved by a law adapted to its special inter- 
ests. Or, if I desired to ' bring down the house ' in a storm 
of applause, I would utter some biting sarcasm upon the intel- 
lect, or some attack upon the character, of some member of the 
House. 

" For myself, let it not be said I have given no plan or details 
by which a remedy may be administered." 

Strange words these to fall from the lips of a mem- 
ber of Congress, and harshly they doubtless grated 
upon the delicate ears of political demagogues of 
both parties. But they are words of wisdom, born in 
the brain of a statesman whose love of justice is far 
greater than his love of party, or office, or power. 
They reveal a heart that beats responsive to the 
demand for justice, that in this age, and this country, 
is being made as never before in any nation. 

Gen. Butler is not a sentimentalist. He is not a 
reformer, in the common acceptance of that term. 
But he believes in the principles of equity. He has 
profound respect for right. Did he live in a country 
ruled by despotic power, he would doubtless be a 



l8o LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

revolutionist. He would demand a re-organization of 
the government, on the principles of freedom, equal 
rights, and justice. But, recognizing the fact that 
this government is based upon those grand princi- 
ples, he simply demands that they should become 
active forces in the body politic, that the statute laws 
shall conform to the Constitution. This is all that is 
needed to cure the evils of which the laboring classes 
complain. 

He is not a communist, agrarian, Jacobin, or red 
republican, but a true democrat. He demands that 
class legislation shall cease, and all laws be equal in 
their influence upon all classes, and that all rights 
under the Constitution shall be maintained and 
enforced by the legislative, executive, and judiciary 
powers of the nation. The Constitution makes it 
the duty of Congress to coin money, and regulate its 
value, to provide the country with a medium of ex- 
change. Gen. Butler demands that it shall discharge 
this important duty, and not farm out the job to 
privileged individuals or corporations. This is the 
fundamental basis of his currency-reform doctrines. 
He holds that the public domain belongs to the whole 
people, and that for Congress to parcel out the public 
lands to railroad corporations is unjust and vicious 
legislation. 

HE BELIEVES IN UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 

Gen. Butler is an uncompromising advocate for 
universal citizen suffrage, both because that is the 
palladium of liberty, and because the Constitution 



AS A FRIEND OF THE WORKING-CLASSES. 151 

guarantees to every citizen of this Republic the right 
to vote. He was a member of the Judiciary Commit- 
tee of the Forty-first Congress. His committee was 
called upon, in the discharge of its duties, to make 
report upon the subject of the right of the female 
citizens of the Republic to vote for members of Con- 
gress. The committee made two reports : a majority 
report, written by Mr. Bingham, against the right of 
woman to the ballot ; and a minority report, present- 
ed by Mr. Loughridge, but signed also by Gen. Butler, 
and the authorship of which is credited to him. Thar 
the reader may understand his position on that ques- 
tion, the following extract from that report is quoted 
here : — 

The Constitution is necessarily confined to the statement ot 
general principles. There are regulations necessary to be made 
as to the qualifications of voters, as to their proper age, their 
domicile, the length of residence necessary to entitle the citi- 
zen to vote in a given State or place. These particulars could 
not be provided in the Constitution, but are necessarily left to 
the States ; and this section is thus construed as to be in har- 
mony with itself, and with the expressed objects of .the framers 
of the Constitution, and the principles of free government. 

When the majority of the committee can demonstrate that 
"the people of the States," and one-half the people of the 
States, are equivalent terms, or that, when the Constitution pro- 
vides that the representatives shall be elected by the people, 
its requirements are met by an election in which less than one- 
half the adult people are allowed to vote, then it will be admitted 
that this section to some extent sustains them. 

The committee say, that, if it had been intended that Congress 
should prescribe the qualifications of electors, the grant would 
have given Congress that power specifically. We do not claim 
that Congress has that power : on the contrary, admit that the 



1 82 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

States have it ; but the section of the Constitution does prescribe 
who the electors shall be. That is what we claim — nothing 
more. They shall be " the people." Their qualifications may 
be regulated by the States ; but to the claim of the majority of 
the committee that they may be " qualified " out of existence, 
we cannot assent. 

We are told that the acquiescence by the people, since the 
adoption of the Constitution, in the denial of political rights to 
women citizens, and the general understanding that such denial 
was in conformity with the Constitution, should be taken to 
settle the construction of that instrument. 

Any force this argument may have, it can only apply to the 
original text, and not to the fourteenth amendment, which is of 
but recent date. 

But, as a general principle, this theory is fallacious. It would 
stop all political progress ; it would put an end to all original 
thought, and put the people under that tyranny with which the 
friends of liberty have always had to contend, — the tyranny of 
precedent. 

From the beginning, our Government has been right in 
theory, but wrong in practice. The Constitution, had it been 
carried out in its true spirit, and its principles enforced, would 
have stricken the chains from every slave in the Repubhc long 
since. Yet, for all this, it was but a few years since declared, by 
the highest judicial tribunal of the Republic, that, according to. 
the " general understanding," the black man in this country had 
no rights the white man was bound to respect. General under- 
standing and acquiescence is a very unsafe rule by which to try 
questions of constitutional law, and precedents are not infalhble 
guides toward liberty and the rights of man. 

Without any law to authorize it, slavery existed in England, 
and was sustained and perpetuated by popular opinion, univer- 
sal custom, and the acquiescence of all departments of the gov- 
ernment, as well as by the subjects of its oppression. A few 
fearless champions of liberty struggled against the universal 
sentiment, and contended that, by the laws of England slavery 
could not exist in the kingdom ; and, though for years unable 
to obtain a hearing in any British court, the Sommersett case 



AS A FRIEND OF THE WORKING-CLASSES. 1 83 

was finally tried in the Court of King's Bench in 1771, Lord 
Mansfield presiding, wherein that great and good man, after a 
long and patient hearing, declared that no law of England al- 
lowed or approved of slavery, and discharged the negro. And 
it was then judicially declared that no slave could breathe upon 
the soil of England, although slavery had up to that time existed 
for centuries, under the then existing laws. The laws were 
right, but the practice and public opinion were wrong. 

It is said by the majority of the committee, that, " if the right 
of female citizens to suffrage is vested by the Constitution, that 
right can be estabhshed in the courts." 

We respectfully submit that, with regard to the competency 
and qualification of electors for members of this House, the 
courts have no jurisdiction. 

This House is the sole judge of the election, return, and 
qualification of its own members (Art. V. sect. 5, of the Con- 
stitution) ; and it is for the House alone to decide, upon a 
contest, who are, and who are not, competent and qualified to 
vote. The judicial department cannot thus invade the preroga- 
tives of the political department. 

' And it is therefore perfectly proper, in our opinion, for the 
House to pass a declaratory resolution, which would be an index 
to the action of the House, should the question be brought 
before it by a contest for a seat. 

We therefore recommend to the House the adoption of the 
following resolution : — 

Resolved, by the House of Representatives, That the right of 
suffrage is one of the inalienable rights of citizens of the United 
States, subject to regulation by the States, through equal and 
just laws. 

That this right is included in the " privileges of citizens of 
the United States," which are guaranteed by sect, i of Art. 
XIV. of amendments to the Constitution of the United States ; 
and that women citizens, who are otherwise qualified by the 
laws of the State where they reside are competent voters for 
Representatives in Congress. 

WM. LOUGHRIDGE. 
BENJ. F. BUTLER. 



184 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

There is no sentimentality in this report. It is 
simply a legal opinion based upon the Constitution of 
the United States of America, a deduction which he, 
as an intelligent and honest member of the Judiciary 
Committee, could not avoid giving. And the fact 
that he had the moral heroism to stand by his con- 
victions, against the prejudice of the age, which few 
public men dare oppose, is proof of his courage, as 
well as his statesmanship. 



HIS CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR IN 1878. 1 85 



CHAPTER XIX. 

GEN. butler's campaign FOR GOVERNOR IN 1878. 

SINCE the late civil war Gen. Butler has been 
recognized as a leader of the Republican party ; 
and he has mainly acted with that organization on 
all matters of national policy except finance. On 
the latter subject he has long held views in advance 
of both the great parties. In Massachusetts the 
general has, for years, been forcing certain questions 
of State reform upon the attention of the people. 
Unfortunately for the Republican party, it is respon- 
sible for the abuses which he desires to abolish : 
hence those Republican leaders who are benefited 
by the wrongs to the people, of which Gen. Butler 
complains, find their selfish interests antagonized by 
his reformatory propositions. They therefore oppose 
any and every movement looking to his election to 
the governorship. In 1871 the large majority of the 
voters of that party desired the nomination of Gen. 
Butler for governor of the State, but the party mana- 
gers defeated him in the convention by means known 
only to party managers. Col. Russell H. Conwell, 
in an address before the Aurora Club of Boston in 



1 86 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

1874, in speaking of this matter, said, *'Gen. Butler 
saw the State-House lobby so eager for office, that 
the governor's chair had to be divided and sub- 
divided, and given to 'commissions,' until Massachu- 
setts had twenty-four governors instead of one, and 
as many politicians had fat places. He saw they 
were powerful. At the risk of his nomination he 
fought them. He saw the newspapers aiding in the 
work of taxing the people more than ought in justice 
to be. He needed their influence if office was all he 
wanted, but he fought them with unsparing hand. 
He had rather fight monopolies, corrupt office-seek- 
ers, and newspapers which could be bought with 
money, than be governor of the Commonwealth." 
In 1876 Gen. Butler was nominated for Congress by 
the Republicans of the Fourth, District. The party 
managers and the newspapers opposed his nomina- 
tion by all means in their power, fair and foul ; but 
the people were too strong for the rings, and their 
organs. 

Having failed to defeat his nomination, they re- 
solved to prevent his election. The plan adopted 
was to put Judge E. R. Hoar in opposition to him, 
with a view to divide the Republican vote, and give 
the election to the Democratic candidate, Mr. Tarbox. 
This scheme also failed : Gen. Butler was triumph- 
antly elected to the Forty-fifth Congress by the peo- 
ple, over the opposition of both the Democratic and 
Republican parties. He has faithfully represented 
his constituents, the people, without regard to the 
wishes of the politicians. 



HIS CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR IN 1878. iS/ 

That campaign of 1876 marks an era in the his- 
tory of Massachusetts politics. The nomination of 
Gen. Butler was a declaration by the people of in- 
dependence of ring-rule. The campaign which en- 
sued was a war of rebellion against party despotism ; 
and his election, a triumph for the principles of popu- 
lar sovereignty in the Fourth District. 

In the summer of 1878, the people of the State, 
to the number of 51,700, signed a petition headed by 
Wendell Phillips, to Gen. Butler, asking him to be- 
come an independent candidate for governor of the 
State, on the issue of "State reform." These peti- 
tioners were from all parties, Republican, Demo- 
cratic, and National, who, without regard to previous 
condition of party servitude, joined in a movement to 
emancipate the tax-payers from the despotic, extrava- 
gant and corrupt rule of the partisan leeches who had 
fastened themselves upon the public treasury. 

Gen. Butler accepted this popular nomination, in 
a letter of great ability, but in which he confined 
himself to the discussion of '' State issues." 

His nomination was indorsed by the Nationals ; 
and the Democratic party leaders, on assembling in 
State convention at Worcester, found that a large 
majority of the delegates coming fresh from the 
people were in favor of also indorsing the nomina- 
tion of the champion of reform, Gen. Butler. These 
leaders protested ; but finding themselves unable to 
control the convention, they seceded from it, and the 
general's candidacy was unanimously ratified. The 
seceding faction met some days later in Boston, and 



1 88 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

put in nomination Judge Abbott. The Republican 
party nominated Hon. Thomas Talbot ; and the Pro- 
hibitionists, Rev. Dr. Miner. All knew from the 
first that either Gen. Butler or Mr. Talbot would be 
elected. The Abbott party put the judge in the 
field for the express purpose of aiding the Republi- 
can nominee, by dividing the Democratic vote. The 
Prohibition party, doubtless, acted from conscien- 
tious motives, in resolving to stand up and be 
counted as radical temperance men ; but it is proba- 
ble that the candidacy of Dr. Miner took more votes 
from Butler than Talbot, for the reason that the 
general is considered much more sound and firm on 
the temperance question than Mr. Talbot This 
nomination of Gen. Butler for governor was to the 
whole State, what his nomination for Congress, two 
years before, had been to the Fourth District. It 
was a popular uprising of the people against party 
dictation and ring-rule. 

The managers of both the old parties understood 
this, and became allies at once ; and they fought side 
by side, and shoulder to shoulder, throughout the 
campaign. 

Knowing their weakness, their utter inability to 
meet Gen. Butler on the true issues before the peo- 
ple, — State reforms, — they resolved to ignore these, 
and compel a discussion of the great national ques- 
tion of finance instead. They knew he was in ad- 
vance of the public sentiment of the State on that 
question ; and they shrewdly guessed that it would 
be impossible for him to educate a majority of the 



HIS CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR IN 1878. 1 89 

voters, and thus overcome their prejudices in favor 
of hard money, in one campaign of a few weeks. 

Gen. Butler opened the campaign by discussing 
the State reforms ; but finding the opposition speak- 
ers and journals persistent in their determination 
to ignore these issues, and confine themselves to 
the basest misrepresentations of his views of na- 
tional finance, and the vilest personal abuse of his 
private character and public record, he resolved to 
discuss the currency question as well as State re- 
form. He made the most able and vigorous canvass 
of which the annals of American politics contain a 
record. He delivered about one hundred speeches to 
immense audiences, in various cities and villages of 
the State. A few earnest, well-informed speakers 
supplemented his efforts by sound and vigorous 
speeches, but it was impossible for him, and his vol- 
unteer friends to cover the whole State, or reach a 
majority of the voters ; but wherever they were heard 
the people were profoundly impressed with the able 
arguments presented in favor of a reconstruction of 
the financial system of the country in the interest of 
the enterprising and industrial classes of the nation. 

But Democratic and Republican hard-money ora- 
tors literally swarmed over the land, like the locusts 
and frogs of Egypt. Not only were all politicians 
of Massachusetts actively engaged in slandering and 
denouncing Gen. Butler's currency doctrines, but 
Senator Blaine, Secretary Schurz, Congressman Frye, 
Col. Ingersoll, and a host of less luminous lights, were 
imported from other States, to aid in diverting the 



190 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

attention of the people of Massachusetts from the 
real questions before them, mystify their minds on 
the true doctrines of finance, and thus roll back the 
waves of revolution and reform that threatened to 
ingulf the old parties, and redeem the State. 

The author was in this canvass : hence he writes 
from the standpoint of personal observation. He 
does not hesitate to say that while Gen. Butler and 
his friends conducted the campaign, on their part, in 
a manner worthy American citizens and statesmen, 
confining themselves to honorable discussion of vital 
questions ; the majority of the opposition speakers 
and papers resorted to every species of political jug- 
glery known to the modern demagogue. Still fear- 
ing defeat at the hands of the people's champion, the 
Republican party, through its executive committee, 
■issued a circular letter to the clergy of the State, 
urging them to come to the rescue, and save the 
party from defeat. Quite a number of the preachers 
responded by preaching hard-money sermons. 

To the old party leaders and their friends, defeat 
by the people's candidate seemed such a terrible 
thing, that they resolved to resort to the method 
known in the South as " bulldozing." Massachusetts 
justly claims to be an intelligent and cultured State, 
hence the crude methods of South Carolina were out 
of place there ; but other methods, more refined but 
no less effective, were available. 

"The Boston Herald" gave the anti-Butler men 
the "cue," in the following editorial which appeared 
in its issue of Sept. 12, 1878 : — 



HIS CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR IN 1878. I9I 

" There will probably be a good deal of ' bulldozing ' done 
in Massachusetts this year, of a civilized type. The laborers 
employed by Gen. Butler in his various enterprises — mills, 
quarries, &c. — will be expected to vote for him, or give up their 
situations. The same rule will hold good on the other side. 
There will be no shotguns or threats. Every thing will be 
managed with decorum, adorned by noble sentiments. But the 
men who oppose Butler employ three-fourths, if not seven- 
eighths, of the labor of the State. They honestly believe that 
Butler's election would injure their prosperity. They know 
that idle hands are waiting to do their work. It is not to be 
expected that they will look on indifferently, and see their em- 
ployees vote for a destructive like Butler. Human nature is 
much the same in Massachusetts and Mississippi. Only meth- 
ods are different. Brains, capital, and enterprise will tell in any 
community. It is very improper, of course, to intimidate 
voters, but there is a way of giving advice that is 

QUITE CONVINCING." 

The assumption that the employees of those man- 
ufacturing estabHshments, in which Gen. Butler is a 
stockholder, would be required to vote for him, was 
wholly gratuitous, and merely presented for the pur- 
pose of an apology for the infamous suggestion which 
followed. Although Gen. Butler is a patron of manufac- 
turing enterprises, he does not control a single mill in 
Lowell or anywhere else ; and, if he did, no one who 
knows him would believe him capable of any unfair 
attempt to influence the votes of his employees. 

In an article commenting upon the above para- 
graph from ''The Boston Herald," "The New York 
World" says, — 

"That paragraph outlined the campaign on the part of the 
Massachusetts Republicans; and 'advice 'of this 'quiet, con- 



192 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

vincing ' nature was freely given to men whose daily necessi- 
ties and families to be supported would not allow them to dis- 
regard it. Following this declaration a call was issued by 
Adin Thayer, Chairman of the Republican State Committee, to 
the manufacturers, inviting them to a secret meeting at the 
Parker House, Boston, to discuss the subjects connected with 
the approaching election. The meeting was numerously 
attended ; among others, George F. Hoar being present ; and 
the question of how far manufacturers and employers could 
safely go in influencing the votes of their employees was con- 
sidered with much earnestness. It was finally decided, with 
but few dissenters, that efforts should be made in the direction 
of influencing the votes of workmen ; and the result of this 
action was made very manifest on election day in the manufac- 
turing towns of Eastern Massachusetts. A few of the men 
who attended this meeting at the Parker House were disgusted 
with the spirit of polite bulldozing manifested, and turned their 
backs upon the whole proceeding. From them the action of 
the mutiny was subsequently ascertained. This was the begin- 
ning, and the plans adopted here and manifested throughout the 
campaign are believed by many to have effected Gen. Butler's 
defeat. The usual campaign tricks of shaking hands, &c., 
were neglected ; and, instead of winning men's votes by affected 
consideration for their families, they were terrorized with hints 
of the coming winter with no employment. Then a circular, 
printed cautiously in New York, was sent secretly to all manu- 
facturers who could be reached, as follows : — 

'' Dear Sir, —Your co-operation with the Massachusetts Republican State 
Central Committee is most earnestly requested. It is in your power, by the 
authority you can exercise over those employed by you, to maintain the honor 
of Massachusetts, and keep it out of the hands of spoilers and political 
knaves who have selected Gen. Butler as their candidate. His election would 
disgrace our State, and ruin our standing at home and abroad. A thorough 
canvass of those you employ, and an early report to the Secretary of the Repub- 
lican State Central Committee, will be thankfully received." 

That anti-Butler manufacturers, merchants, and 
bankers compelled their employees to vote for Mr. 



Ills CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR IN 1S7S. 1 93 

Talbot on pain of being discharged, in numerous 
cases, is a fact well known to many persons in Mas- 
sachusetts ; and it is-established by sworn testimony 
now in possession of Senator Thurman. 

In the light of the facts given here, the election. of 
Mr. Talbot by a small plurality is not a matter for 
surprise. On the contrary, the fact, that, under all 
the circumstances. Gen. Butler received the largest 
number of votes (110,000) ever cast in the State 
for a defeated candidate, proves the power and estab- 
lishes the popularity of the man. 

Victory often follows fast upon the heels of defeat 
when the cause one fights for is just. Such is sure 
to be the result in this case, if Gen. Butler will permit 
his friends to vote for him for the office of governor 
this year, 1879. 



194 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



CHAPTER XX. 



CONCLUSION. 



J 



AMES PARTON says of Gen. Butler: — 



' He is a great achiever. He is a victorious kind of man. 
He is that combination of qualities and powers which is most 
potent in bringing things to pass. He is endowed with a large, 
healthy, active, educated brain. 

" He has courage. He dares to take responsibility. He 
dares to incur obloquy. He dares to tell the truth. 

" He is honest. With opportunities such as no other man 
has had since the days of Warren Hastings, his hands are 
spotless. 

" He could have made a half-million by a wink ; and, if he 
had done so, he could have come home with a marked reputa- 
tion for integrity; because then he would have had an interest 
to create such a reputation, and could not have indulged the 
noble carelessness with regard to his good name which is the 
privilege of a man strong in conscious rectitude. 

" He is humorous. The pointed humor and vivacity of Gen. 
Butler's utterances are an element of his success. 

" He is a man of faith. He never doubts that the right 
will triumph. 

" He is humane. He was always kindly considerate of the 
men in his command. He was lenient toward offences result- 
ing from the weakness of human nature. He is generous to 
the poor. He sympathized with the anxiety of parents who 



CONCLUSION. 195 

had sons in the army. He is courteous, not to officers and 
prominent persons only, but to private soldiers, and even the 
beggar on the street." 

Col. Russell H. Conwell, in an address before 
the Aurora Club of Boston, says of him : — 

•' Fellow-citizens, I have not attempted to do more in this 
superficial review than to suggest a few thoughts to lead you in 
your discussion. But the search which I have made among 
public documents has been of service to me in explaining many 
things which seemed dark, and in convincing me that Gen. But- 
ler has greater executive ability, is a braver patriot, a wiser 
statesman, and a truer friend, than many of us have believed. 
I am greatly surprised that, notwithstanding the storm of accu- 
sation and the thousands of insinuations which almost over- 
whelm us when we begin an investigation of his public life, — 
that out of it all there should stand confirmed or proven not 
one of all these derogatory assertions. That one should suffer 
himself to be so slandered and misrepresented without more fre- 
quent replies, is so strange as to be equalled only by the estab- 
lished fact that the newspapers publish falsehoods about him 
nearly every day, and the people believe them as often, which 
have not the slightest foundation in fact or probability. He is 
a great man ; but a whole army of men as able as he, could not 
accomplish one-half the evils which rival politicians and their 
newspapers have laid to his charge. It is a good thing for us 
to look into these matters, — not in this case only, but in all 
others like it, — that we may hereafter know whereof we speak, 
and be able to vote intelligently and without bias in matters of 
public policy. 

" Let me then, candidly and fairly, state to you my conclu- 
sions regarding Gen. Butler, with the same freedom with which 
I intend to speak of other pubhc and representative men of 
our Commonwealth. 

"He is a keen, disciplined lawyer, a shrewd observer of 
men. He never forgets his friends or his enemies. His bat- 



196 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

ties for himself have sometimes flagged : yet, when he entered 
the lists as a champion for his friends, he was never known to 
yield. In behalf of his friends he refuses no weapon placed 
within his reach, except such as would dishonor his cause. 
Unselfish in the extreme while his armor is on, he hesitates at 
no risk, falters not at any sacrifice. Be his enemies or the ene- 
mies of his friends who they may, — president, senators, kings, 
parliaments, legislatures, armies, his own party, the newspapers, 
or even the churches, — no matter, his foes must succumb. 
His wars are always on the offensive, and seldom partake of 
the defensive. The party or the man must be saintly as an 
angel, strong as Hercules, and as firmly set as the Rock of Gib- 
raltar, to escape the pen or the hand of the artillery of his pro- 
lific and wonderful genius. 

" As I declared in the beo^inninsf, warfare of some kind is his 
natural element. That passion has made him a great man. That 
spirit, guided by a powerful, steady brain, has given him the fore- 
most places among the statesmen of this nation and of the world. 
That desire, coupled with a heart that beats warmly for his com- 
rades, has led him to combat the whole congressional delegation 
of his State, when by sacrificing a friend to their demand he 
could himself have ridden triumphant into public favor. That 
inomentuni^ with a desire to see fair play, led him to risk all his 
own chances for political preferment in the cause of his much- 
slandered associates. That fearless, chivalric heroism leads 
him at all times to listen to the millions of applications for 
assistance, coming from the lowly, to answer which, and to help 
whom, requires hundreds of letters every day, and a great share 
of his valuable time. That love of conflict, and the excite- 
ment of combat, made him the greatest criminal lawyer of the 
United States, and naturally led him to the bar as the defender 
of those who, while under accusation, no matter whether guilty 
or not, had at the time no friend but him. Lastly, that knightly 
inborn desire to fight for those who looked upon him for pro- 
tection has compelled him to provide beautiful homes for his 
family, and to make provision for companions less fortunate 
than he, because less hardy and valiant. 



CONCLUSION. 197 

*' Ah ! my friends, I am sure that none of you will accuse me 
of partisan or illiberal spirit when I say, after mature delibera- 
tion, that, when Gen. Butler goes to his grave, there will be 
more genuine grief in this land than there has been for the death 
of any statesman since the assassination of Lincoln ! Ask the 
negroes, who first saw the star of freedom through the flashes 
of his sword, who received the first fire-arms from him, and a 
brigade of whom were the first troops to enter Richmond ! Ask 
the widows who would have had no bounty ! Ask the crippled 
soldiers and penniless orphans he piloted to clerkships ! Ask 
the unfortunate, ignorant criminals, who would never have been 
law-breakers had they known friends like him ! Ask the mer- 
chants of this city, whose homes would have passed under the 
hammer but for his earnest and freely-given aid ! Ask the dis- 
tinguished members of the Judiciary Committee, the chairman- 
ship of which it is an honor for Massachusetts to hold ! Ask 
our old Commonwealth, who was first and foremost in the war 
because he offered himself And his all for her good name when 
he stood all alone ! Ask the nation, for whose flag many traitors 
suffered under his iron hand, and for whose glory and prosperity 
he has ever fought with unabated zeal against rebels in the field, 
traitors in Congress, apathy in the Senate, threats from arrogant 
foreign nations, and the machinations of sneaking, dangerous 
foes in countless other forms ! 

" When that time comes, sir, will not some of us regret, — 
yea, I may say repent^ — for our supineness in permitting so 
able a statesman, and so noted a friend of the poor and the 
weak, to live without'our plaudits and encouragement, and fight 
on in our battles alone ? " 

In a letter to ''The Boston Globe," giving his 
reasons why he should vote for Gen. Butler for gov- 
ernor, Wendell Phillips said, — 

" My friend Mr. Blaine wonders that I and the South should 
join in this movement, — currency reform. Let me tell him, 
such movements as this are not of men. Such questions ripen 



198 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

of themselves. It was inevitable, that, after emancipation, this 
politic-economical issue should present itself. He must not 
think the bankruptcy of this class, the ambition of that man, 
the cunning of a party, or the theories of a cHque, lifted this 
question to the surface. As the French courtier said to Louis 
XVI., ' Sire, this is not a riot, it is a revolution,' so I say 
to Schurz, Blaine, and Sherman : Jhis is no rotten party falling 
to pieces, no discontented class clamoring in the dark ; this is a 
step in the ages, a revolution deeper than that which was sealed 
at Appomattox. It began when Congress declared all men 
equal : it will never end till it is settled that the people are the 
source of all power, and safely to be trusted with its exercise 
over every interest, and in every direction. On one side of the 
question stand the tory and the coward ; those who hate the 
people, and those who honestly doubt their capacity and discre- 
tion. On the other side we see the men who still believe in 
the Declaration of Independence, and are willing and resolved 
that this shall be, as Lincoln said, — ' a government of the peo- 
ple, for the people, and by the people.' 

" I vote for Gen. Butler because he represents this move- 
ment. Ten years ago he had the sagacity to anticipate its ap- 
pearance, and the patriotism, courage, and magnanimity, to 
range himself on its side. To-day he is the only prominent 
political servant of the Commonwealth who accepts it, and 
throws his influence in its support. 

" Men say his advocacy of it is only selfish ambition, seeking 
to use a popular cry for his own advancement. Ten years ago, 
when he first gave it his support, it had nothing to offer. The 
Democratic party, which had held up Jackson's hands in the 
same battle with banks and money-kings, had forgotten its own 
record. The Republican party, contented with the flesh-pots 
of Egypt, frowned on any attempt to curb the power of capital 
When Butler committed himself to the plan of a national cur- 
rency, he seemed to cut himself off from all support ; and most 
men well remember the universal ridicule or howl with which 
his speech was received. To-day, when this reform is about to 
seize the helm, he is its rightful representative and leader, who, 



CONCLUSION. 199 

of all living statesmen, has done the most to honor the Com- 
monwealth by brilliant and efficient service in different ca- 
pacities. 

" Who of our volunteer commanders in the war ranks any- 
where near him? His friends have but to name Annapolis, 
Baltimore, New Orleans, and the ' contraband,' in order to put 
him in the front rank, if not at the very head, of all volunteer 
commanders. 

" But one service which he rendered the nation in 1861 out- 
does, in the view history will take, even all his subsequent well- 
doing. In 1861, all will remember, there was an hour when it 
hung doubtful whether the impending war was to be a war of 
parties, — Democrat against Republican in each State, — or 
whether it would be the nation putting down a rebellion. But- 
ler, Dix, and a score of such Democrats, by accepting com- 
missions, and flinging their fortunes in with the flag, settled 
that doubt, and saved the Union. Let no man rashly criticise 
the patriots who in that dread hour made the scale of the rebel 
kick the beam. 

" In Congress no injustice will be done his Massachusetts 
associates, and no claim will be made for Butler that any man 
familiar with Washington will dispute, if one says of him as 
Lord Clarendon says of Sir Harry Vane, ' Sir Harry Vane was 
one of the Commissioners, and therefore the others need not be 
named, since he was all in any business where others were 
joined with him? 

" In spite of all that is alleged against him, I dare affirm that 
he is, in private life and in his great offices, as upright and 
honorable as any public servant of the State. 

" The political issue which seems ripest to-day for settlement 
is finance. The man who prophesied, and has done as much as" 
any other to create, this state of affairs, is Gen. Butler. 

" The man who has shown the largest capacity to rouse the 
spirit of the State, and concentrate its strength for any needed 
purpose, is Gen. Butler. 

" The man who, watched by the lynx-eyed malice of a hun- 
dred journals, and never shrinking from responsibility in gre:it 



200 LIFE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

crises, stands yet as mir in his record as any of his rivals, and 
far more consistent, is Gen. Butler. 

" The man who seems fittest to lead the people in their effort 
to break the yoke to which Congress has submitted, and which 
capital now seeks to fasten on the nation itself, is Gen. Butler, 

" I shall vote to make him governor of Massachusetts. His 
success wi.U be the people's triumph." ) 

Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, in a speech in Congress 
in 1865, said of him : — 

"His patriotism, his talents, his acquirements, will hold him 
aloft amid the attacks of all his enemies. He has rendered ser- 
vices and shown patriotic intention which will make him beloved 
throughout all this country; and I venture the declaration this 
day, that if the question could be put to the loyal people, whom 
they would prefer for the next president, a majority of them 
would vote for Gen. Butler." 

The men whose opinions are quoted here are not 
only well known to the American people, but they 
are universally recognized as exceptionally sincere 
and reliable. They are not politicians. They regard 
Gen. Butler from the standpoints of the critic, the 
historian, the reformer. 

The public records of the country furnish abun- 
dant proof, however, that the military and civil career 
of Gen. Butler is fully vindicated and amply in- 
dorsed by the leading statesmen and generals of this 
country. The Legislature of Ohio unanimously 
adopted the following resolution : — 

^'-Resolved, That Major-Gen. Butler, by reason of his dis- 
tinguished services to his country during the present rebelHon, 
is entitled to the most grateful acknowledgment and thanks of 
the loyal people of the country." 



CONCLUSION. 20I 

The Legislature of Massachusetts 

'■'■Resolved^ That the thanks of the House are truly tendered 
to Major-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler for the energy, ability, and 
success of his administration of the Department of the Gulf." 

The following was unanimously adopted by the 
Cono^ress of the United States : — ^ 

'■'■ Resolved^ That* the thanks of this House are hereby ten- 
dered to Major-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, for the energetic, 
able^ and humane administration during his command of the 
Department of the Gulf." 

The brief but pointed resolutions quoted have 
been selected from an abundant stock of similar 
documents in possession of the author, all show- 
ing the high appreciation of the public services of 
Gen. Butler to the country. Benjamin F. Butler is a 
man of great and positive character. He leaves the 
impress of his mind upon whatever he does. He 
re-organizes public opinion. He establishes prece- 
dents. He is a factor in human progress. He 
makes history. He is one of the colossal figures of 
this age, which is destined to stand out in bold relief, 
while the annals of America shall have a place in the 
memory of the race. 

He is essentially an American. He belongs to 
the people. His fame rests solely upon the solid 
basis of personal merit as exhibited in grand achieve- 
ments, and it reflects credit upon the institutions of 
the land of his birth. 

His fame is world-wide. His words and his ac- 
tions are discussed in every civilized country on the 



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